The Hunter and the Hunted Book 3: Rising
by Silver tongued Poet
Summary: The Golden Winchester Trio have been divided by the loss of the eldest Winchester. Our story follows Sam and Bella as they cope with the loss of their brother and how they plan to rescue their brother from his fate. But as Bella returns home to Forks, a threat is looming. How will her life be changed by events out of her control? Please read the other two books!
1. Homeward Bound

**Hey guys! So sorry this is late, you guys should all know this by now! If not, buckle up butter cup! Unfortunately due to technical issues and editing problems and just life in general we had to push back the start date.**

 **I hope you guys are ready for the latest installment in the H &H series! If you thought that Dean dying was the worse thing to happen... o_O **

**As always, disclaimer: I do not own these characters. I just claim the adapted plot lines!**

 **Lets go!**

 **Chapter 1: Homeward Bound**

 **Forks Washington**

 **May 3-5, 2008**

 **Bella POV**

The drive back was longer than I expected. I contemplated getting a motel for the night, but Bobby had only given me enough cash to get gas for the car. I didn't have my wallet, thinking I may have left it in the car when Edward took it. I frowned, hoping that no cops would be out patrolling. I kept the needle right on the correct speed just in case. My joy at coming back home was slightly bitter as I mulled over the last few days. My brother was gone… I bit my lip to stifle the tears, and Alice had gone missing. I had no idea if she was even okay or not. Not only had I lost my wallet but my phone was also lost during the chaos. I prayed that she would be alright, hoping that her vision wasn't true.

"I hope she's okay…" I spoke to myself. "I can't lose anyone else… Please." I didn't even know if anyone was listing. If demons existed, surely the opposite was true.

When I was a mile away from Charlie's I decided to stash the car down a deserted road, deciding to walk the rest of the way. I didn't want to take the chance of someone spotting me so after I took the license plate off the car I changed my appearance to a mid-twenties girl with long red hair. Hoping to avoid being recognized. I made my way to Charlie's easily and smiled when I saw the cruiser still in the drive way. I found the spare key and opened the door, finding Charlie in the living room.

"Bella…?" Charlie turned at the sound of me coming in, shock registering on his face as I turned back to my original appearance.

After seeing him, my emotional wall cracked. I felt the tears streaming down my face as I couldn't hold them back any more. The weight of the funeral crashing down on me in full force.

"I'm so sorry kiddo…" Charlie must have figured out what happened to Dean. Sympathy and grief flooded his expression and he hugged me.

"Charlie… oh god… it was horrible." I gulped back the tears as I tried to speak. "He was ripped apart, dying in agony…. I-I couldn't protect him…."

"You did your best kid… no one expected any more from you."

"There's just a lot of shit going on…." I thought again back to Alice, wondering if she was okay right now.

"Why didn't you stay with Sam? I'm sure he needs you."

"'Cause he's an asshole…." Charlie looked stunned at my words, but I just shrugged and walked over to the couch. "We need some time apart. It was my decision to come back."

"Because of Edward, right?" Charlie asked, following me over to the couch.

"He went with me… but then Alice went missing. I told him to come back." I hoped he wouldn't be too upset with me. I asked him to leave, did he think that I was just gonna blow him off?

"Someone kidnapped Alice?" Charlie's eyes widened.

"Yeah. We think it's the vampire we've been tracking. I haven't heard anything else about it. My phone broke… or was lost… whatever. Hopefully one of them will be there…." Which meant that I would have to go back to school. I sighed, wondering how this was gonna turn out. "Would you mind giving me a ride to school Charlie?"

"No problem Bella."

"By the way, I stashed a repoed car about a mile from here." I grinned, wanting to see his reaction.

"Bella…." He frowned disapprovingly.

"What? It's legit… plus I didn't really want to be around Sam."

"What did he do…? You two have never fought…." Charlie frowned as he pulled on his coat.

"Sam has teamed up with a demon named Ruby." I scowled at the mention of the little blonde demon that I only got to meet two minutes before my brother was made into a human chew toy. "She was saying that she could save Dean." I choked out the name. "I don't know why he believed her. But I couldn't talk any sense into him…." Sam placed her opinion over my own, how was I supposed to compete with that?

"Let me know about Alice okay?" Charlie asked when we pulled up outside the school.

"Will do…." I got out and sighed. Waiting until he got back out on the highway to go into the small office to get a note. The parking lot was empty of students which meant that I was at least tardy. The clocks in the office said that it was just after 8:30 am. When I got the note, I walked across the empty campus, feeling the weight of Dean's passing like they were a ball and chain connected to my ankles and wrists.

I walked to the building where my history class was. Feeling like it had been two years instead of two days since I had been here. I knocked on the door, disrupting the lecture.

"Come in." I heard my homeroom teacher's voice through the door.

"I-I'm sorry I'm late Mr. Thorne." I cleared my throat, trying to ignore the eyes on me. "I have a note…." I frowned, holding up the note between my index and middle fingers. I walked up to his desk and handed it to him, he took it from me and read it before nodding at me to take my seat. I didn't look up until I got to my desk, breathing a small sigh of relief when I noticed Edward sitting beside me. I bit my lip, hoping to have a different reunion with him. I pulled a piece of paper from his notebook and began to scribble on it

 _ **Is Alice…?**_

I passed the note to him and he nodded before writing back a quick reply. I tried to glance down at it casually.

 _ **She's safe. We found her two days ago.**_

I nodded, grateful that she was found.

 _ **Good… how did you find her?**_

We both looked up when Mr. Thorne had asked Edward a question.

"1949 sir." Edward spoke clearly.

I looked down, feeling everyone's eyes on us. "We can talk about it later okay?" I whispered to Edward. He nodded back, and I tried to focus on the lesson, unsuccessfully I might add.

The rest of our classes seemed to pass in a blur and we soon found ourselves in the crowded lunch room.

"Okay, what happened?" I waited till he had paid for the food and we had sat down at our regular table. I was also trying to keep my mind from thinking of Dean.

"Jasper never stopped looking for her." Edward admitted as he looked over to his brother sitting over in the corner of the lunch room. "Alice stayed at home with Esme, she's still a little shaken up.

"Yeah… I figured." I looked over to Jasper as well. He looked much the same as he had last week, maybe a little more stressed out but that may have been from Alice going missing and the fact that his eyes were pitch black. I thought about Alice sitting at the Cullen's house, feeling bad that I wasn't there to help her.

"We eventually picked up Alice's scent and tracked it to an abandoned warehouse in Seattle." Edward brought my focus back to him.

"Was James there…?" I bit my lip.

"No, Alice told us that he had gone out to hunt. But he wasn't alone…. Alice said that he had found a mate, a red head."

I sighed, "Great…."

"She's apparently worse than James. He just wanted to kill Alice, but she suggested torture." He replied back quietly as a group of seniors walked past our table.

"Bitch…." I frowned, thinking back to the bodies we found. The savagery must have been her doing.

"When we got there, James had left to hunt. The woman was guarding Alice. When she saw that we outnumbered her, she managed to flee." Edward could feel the prying eyes on us too apparently because his tone turned more casually. "It took all of us to restrain Jasper from going after her. Alice finally convinced him to stop. She's perfectly fine, thankfully."

"Good…" I sighed, feeling defeated. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there to help."

"Don't apologize. What happened with your brothers?"

"Dean's gone… he died in agony Edward." I whispered, voice breaking, and feeling the tears in my eyes. "Sam's off doing god knows what…." I scowled.

"I'm sorry love." Edward touched my hand lightly.

I put my head in my hands, trying to get a hold of my emotions. But out of the corner of my eye I could see my fellow students staring and whispering,

"We don't have to stay… we can leave." Edward offered quietly.

I sighed and laughed humorlessly. "I have to stay… I've already missed too many days. We buried him two days ago… I survived that, I should be able to deal with a few people staring at me…." I gritted my teeth.

"If you're sure." Edward nodded lightly.

The bell rang loudly overhead, I frowned as I remembered that the next period was the only class that we didn't have together. "I'll see you after English."

"See you in Biology." He touched my face gently like he used to before I left.

I started walking towards the building that the English classes were held in.

"Yo Bella! Wait up!" I grimaced as I heard Mike calling out for me.

I stopped warily, sensing the argument ahead. "Hey Mike. What do you want? I'm late for English." I hinted, trying to throw off the conversation. "If you're gonna ask me why I was gone let me just stop you right there and tell you to bug off…. It's my business. If I had wanted you to know I would have told you." _Remember your promise to punch any boys in the face that bothered me Dean? Wish you were here to hold up your promise…._ I thought grimly as Mike caught up with me.

"We're your friends Bella. Or have you forgotten about us ever since Cullen decided to give you the time of day? Do you think you're too good for us now?"

I glared at him, who in the hell did he think he was?! "You have no idea what I'm thinking Mike…."

"You can't shut your friends out. You never told us about your brother." Mike frowned, scratching the back of his head.

"Because you didn't need to know!" I shouted, startling a group of freshmen. I looked over at them and tried to lower my voice. "I'm already the freak of this school due to me not getting killed by Tyler's van! I've had a shitty week Mike! I don't need people making it worse, just please leave me alone!"

He sighed, a small part of me felt guilty for yelling at him. "I just want to help." He looked down, hurt.

"Well, you can't bring my brother back to life, can you?!" I didn't mean to yell at him, but I was so close to an emotional breakdown and he wasn't helping. "No one can! Just let me grieve in peace Mike!" The dam busted for a second time today as the tears came on without any warning. I didn't want to talk to him anymore, I decided to make a run for it and stopped short of going into the class, I sat on the floor to the side of the door. Trying to catch my breath and stop the tears.

I heard someone walking up to the door, but I didn't pay them any attention until they kneeled beside me. "Bella?"

I looked up, grateful to realize who she was. "Angela, please, I don't want to talk about it…" My voice broke on a sob.

She looked down at me with a sympathetic look in her eyes. "Let's get you to the nurse's office okay?" Her voice came out as if she was speaking to a small child, I guess she was used to seeing tears with her two younger brothers.

"I don't need the nurse… I'm just upset…." I leaned my head against the wall slightly and looked up at the ceiling, trying to reign in the tears.

"I know, but you can't go into class like this." She offered me her hand to get up. "I'll tell Edward where to find you."

"No really. I'm fine." I took her hand after wiping away my tears. "Mike just pissed me off… I'm okay now. Thanks Angela. I've really had a bad week."

 **Edward POV**

I sat down in my third period class, the only one I didn't have with Bella and I listened to the conversations in the English building until I locked onto one of Bella's classmates. Thankfully it was Angela Webber's calming mind that I could listen to. She had found Bella outside of the classroom in tears. I smiled at the girl's compassion.

 _I hope Bella's okay…. She looks exhausted…_ Angela looked over Bella as they got out their textbooks. "I'm sorry about your brother Bella… I know you must really miss him a lot."

"You heard huh…?" Bella sighed, and she tried to smile. "Thanks Angela."

"Of course." Angela replied comfortingly. _She must have really been close with her brother, poor Bella._ "If you ever want to talk Bella, I'm here for you."

"Thanks." Bella smiled back slightly. "But I'll be okay… people die all the time, right?" Bella tried to lighten her expression, but it faltered when she mentioned death.

"Still… I'm here. You don't have to suffer alone." I really did love the fact that Angela was Bella's friend. I made a mental note to do something nice for her.

I saw Bella nod from Angela's perspective, my dead heart ached for her pain. But soon I could hear the whispers floating from the other petty teens, I gripped the side of my desk as their thoughts pierced my consciousness as well.

"Her brother died?" A nasty girl named Lauren whispered harshly. "Why would she keep that from us? God, you'd think she'd say something instead of going around moping. She's just begging for attention."

"Definitely, you're right." Another girl replied. "Jessica was right to get Mike away from her. She and Edward deserve each other… They're both weird."

I growled quietly, barely able to contain my anger.

 _You okay man?_ I felt Emmett's strong grasp on my shoulder as I realized that I was already half way out of my chair. I shook my head as I lowered myself back into the chair. _How's Bella doing?_ Emmett's thoughts were colored with sympathy.

"She's going through hell Em." I whispered back, my voice bleak. "They're talking about her… it isn't fair."

Emmett snorted as he thought. _So, what? Screw them. They talk about us all the time._

"I know. I just want to make it easier for her. She only got back this morning." I thought back to when she came into class, her appearance matched her school look, but her eyes looked much older than they should have, she looked exhausted and her eyes were red tinted from all the tears she had shed over her brother.

 _You can't protect her from everything Edward._ Emmett reminded me with a frown.

"I want to tear those little brats apart." I growled quietly.

 _Keep it together man…._

I nodded, not needing to cause a scene in class. I looked up to find Jessica staring at me and her eyes widening as she realized she had been caught. She whipped her head back towards the front of the class. Her thoughts drifted back to me.

 _Edward looks pissed…. I wonder if Bella yelled at him too._

I frowned at her words.

 _It's not that much longer dude._ The bell rang, accentuating his words. _Just don't do anything stupid, okay?_

I nodded. "I won't." I left the class in a hurry, needing to see her face to keep me from premeditated murder. I sighed with relief when I saw her walking out of the English building, Angela offering her kind words of encouragement.

"Hey." She smiled as she walked towards me, seemingly relieved to see me as well.

"How was English?" I leaned in to kiss her cheek.

"It sucked." She took in a deep breath and looked down. "But I'll be okay… it's only one more class." Her shoulders rose up and then slouched back down in a shrug.

"Yeah." I took her hand and we began walking.

She pulled my hand down so that I had to lean over, and she leaned in and whispered in my ear. "I know they're talking about me, and I know you were listening…"

I nodded and wrapped my arm around her shoulders as if to protect her from the thoughts of the students around her. We got into class and took our spots at the very back of the room. I didn't pay the other students much attention, trying to abide by my brother's words but I could see that Bella was taking it harder than I was.

Bella glowered as she took her seat beside me. "As usual I'm the gossip topic." She muttered after Mr. Banner started the lesson.

"Who cares what they think?" I asked rhetorically, trying not to let my irritation show.

"I do…" She looked back up at me with a wicked sense of humor in her eyes. "Can I have a bit of fun with my knife…?"

I wrinkled up my nose in mock disgust. "I don't think that would be wise."

She laughed quietly back, a little bit of the old Bella shining through. "Let me have my fantasies…."

"That's how all the serial killers started." I smirked, but I knew full well the intentions of serial killers after hunting them down for almost a year during my adolescent vampire years.

Bella shrugged off my comment, playing with a necklace that I hadn't seen her wearing before she left. I wondered if it had been a gift from her brother.

"The day will be over soon." I whispered back as I took her hand over the table.

Banner let us go from class a little early due to a faculty meeting held in the cafeteria. Bella looked thankful for the early dismissal.

"Can we go to your house?" She frowned as we walked out to the parking lot. "I really want to check on Alice."

I nodded, taking her hand, squeezing it lightly. "Of course. She has been worried about you as well."

The ride back to my home was quiet, she would touch the amulet every now and then and look out the window forlornly. For the most part I left her to her thoughts, not wanting to upset her again. I sighed as I realized that I couldn't do anything to bring back her brother, just as she had told Mike Newton. I stifled a growl as I remembered their argument from before. Jasper warned me not to get involved in it, but it seemed as if Bella handled herself quite well. I had almost decided to go check on her when Angela stepped in to comfort her. Rosalie had to remind me that killing the Newton boy wouldn't help the problem either, but it would have made me feel better….

"Is she at home?" Bella asked when I pulled to a stop at the front of the house.

I smirked when her question didn't need to be answered. Alice seemed to materialize out of thin air by Bella's side. "Bella!" She wrapped her arms around Bella's waist.

"Alice. God, I'm so sorry." Bella hugged her back, she pulled back after a minute and fixed Alice with a worried look. "Are you okay?"

Alice sighed in relief. "I'm alright now Bella."

"Are you sure…?" Bella and Alice took off towards the house, leaving me by the car. I sighed, trying not to be upset as I realized that I would have to share my time with Bella with my sister now.

"I'm a little shaken up but I'm okay…." Alice replied as they reached the front door. "Are you alright? I saw little flickers of your future. I'm so sorry about Dean…."

Bella winced and nodded. "It's gonna be rough…."

"I know." Alice hugged her friend closer.

I saw through Alice the visions that she had mentioned: Bella gently cleaning the blood from Dean's still face, and then as they stood in the dark around a freshly filled grave, a simple unmarked wooden cross marking it. Bella and her brother's raw emotions throughout the entirety of the visions.

"Thanks Alice." Bella nodded as Alice let her go to join Jasper on the couch. Bella took in a deep breath as she looked to the rest of my family. "Hey guys."

Esme stood, forever the hostess. "Hello Bella."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be here for you guys." Bella apologized, I could see the fear of their judgement written on her face.

"You have _nothing_ to be sorry for. I'm so sorry." Esme poured all her emotion into the hug that she gave to Bella, wishing only to give her comfort.

Bella hugged her back, a little surprised. "Thanks Esme. Now, will someone tell me what happened to Alice?" She sat down after Esme let her go.

Now it was Alice's turn to be hesitant. "I was being stupid…. I went to the docks again trying to find more of my lost memories."

"You went alone…?" Bella's voice rang with disapproval.

Alice winced and nodded. "Like I said, it was stupid."

"Very stupid." Jasper frowned, wrapping his arms around her protectively.

"They caught me off guard somehow… Approaching from down wind. I didn't even see them. They managed to get something down my throat… I think I passed out." I winced at the memory she recalled. "When I came too, I was chained to a wall and they were talking to each other quietly." A low growl building in her throat. "I tried to break the chains, but they burned me when I moved."

"Did they have those strange markings on it like the one's in your vision?" Bella's face looked speculative.

"Yeah." I saw Alice comparing the two images in her head.

"Do you know what they were?" I spoke quietly.

"I've heard of some hunters carving sigils into inanimate objects that could incapacitate a creature… it could be something like that." Bella shrugged. Did I really want to know where she got that idea from?

"How could James have gotten his hands on something like that?" Jasper growled.

Bella shook her head, shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "I haven't got a clue. Edward said they both ran right?"

"The red head did… James was nowhere to be found." Jasper replied, remembering wanting to go and hunt them down.

"Bastard…." It looked as if Bella felt the same way.

"It's okay Bella… there was nothing we could have done to track him. He told me that his specialty is tracking, and his mate is skilled at evasion."

"Great…." Bella sighed. "Did he explain why he abducted you?"

"He was trying to expose us… he knew you were in the area and thought you would wipe us out… he didn't plan on you and Edward falling for each other. When he couldn't, I guess he figured a more direct approach was the answer." Alice answered her honestly. She wasn't aware that I was keeping a secret from them. I frowned as I looked down at Bella, wondering if I should trust the words Victoria spoke at the warehouse.

"He seemed to think we weren't reaching our full potential as vampires because we didn't feed on humans." Alice's words brought me back to the present.

"So, he wanted me to kill you because of it?" Bella shook her head and grimaced.

"No, he wanted us to kill you… to prove ourselves I guess." Alice leaned into Jasper, remembering what James had told her.

Bella's face darkened with anger. "I really wanna find this guy… I'll behead the both of them…."

"Get in line." Jasper snarled the words.

"We'll find them… don't worry." I frowned at them both.

Bella nodded, leaning back into my side.

"What happened with your brother?" Alice almost seemed hesitant to ask.

"We were too late… I had time to watch him die…." She sighed, a hint of tears showing in her eyes. "My brother is dead…." She let out a shaky breath.

I pulled her close, kissing her forehead gently.

"The hellhounds tore him up…. It took hours to get him sorted out…."

"I can't imagine what you've had to go through." Esme shook her head in disbelief.

"You weren't hurt, were you?" I wanted to kick myself for not checking earlier. I looked for any sign of injury.

"No, I'm fine. The demon tried to kill us, but there's not a scratch on me. I'm okay… really." A tear slipped down her cheek. While she may have been okay physically, it spoke nothing to her mental state.

"Why did you come back? Not that I mind but I would have thought you would have stayed with your brother." Emmett spoke up for the first time, curiosity in his thoughts.

Bella frowned. "I got into an argument with my twin right after Dean…." She stopped before she could get the word out. "He's recently made some lifestyle changes that I don't agree with. I thought it'd be best to come back here." She looked back to Alice. "Besides, I had to know that Alice was okay. I lost my phone during the fight, so I had no way of contacting Edward."

"There was an altercation?" Carlisle stood, alarmed.

"We were trying to find the demon that held Dean's contract. Turns out she was possessing a little girl. Or at least she had been. She took possession of a demon that Sam had befriended, and she let a hellhound in… then she tried to kill me and Sam, but she couldn't. She left the demon's body. We buried Dean." She paused, wincing. "It's already been two days, but it still feels like it just happened." She finished, looking down at her hands.

Esme stood and walked over to Bella, taking her hand, sharing in her grief.

With the hand not clasped in Esme's, Bella took hold of the necklace again and smiled sadly. She then squeezed Esme's hand back. "Thanks Esme. I'm probably not going to be the best company for the next few months…. Sorry about that."

"It's quite alright Bella, but you know we will always be here for you if you ever need to talk." Carlisle joined Esme by Bella's side and the rest of my family shared his sentiments.

As she thanked them Victoria's words came back to me.

 _There is a price on her head, as well as her brothers. There are a lot of people who are interested in the Winchesters and would pay handsomely to capture them. And right now, you are in the way. Anyone caught helping the Winchesters are to be put to death immediately, that would include your whole family. If you go in there, guns blazing, you will get yourself killed anyway, along with her and the rest of your family. I'm the only one who knows what's coming, I'm the only one who can protect her now._

I swallowed the lump in my throat. Was what she said really true…? Did I really have no clue as to what was coming? Could I really do it? Could I leave the only person in my life that made my life worth living?


	2. Dark Dreams

**A/N: Hey guys! Hope everyone had a great Thursday! I also hope that everyone enjoyed Chapter One and is ready to dive right in to Chapter Two!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the characters represented, just the adapted plot lines.**

 **Chapter 2: Dark Dreams**

 **June 25, 2008**

 **Forks Washington**

 **Bella POV**

It had been a month since we buried my brother. And a month of me hiding my feelings behind a poorly constructed wall that I had tried to build back up. I kept pushing back the emotions that I could feel just below the surface. I could tell Edward was trying to give me some space, but he also wanted me to confide in him.

The problem was that I couldn't talk about it yet. It was still too real, the feel of Dean's cold skin under my hands as I cleaned the blood away from his face. The feeling of hopelessness Sam and I shared as we lowered Dean's body into some paupers grave because we were too afraid to burn is body. Seeing Sam's grief over Ruby and our argument over her. The emptiness that I felt on the long way home as I tried not to think about the family that I was leaving behind to go back to the new family I had found in Forks.

They had accepted me back with open arms easily enough. But now Rosalie hated me even more, Jasper looked at me with more disdain, and Alice was more terrified than she would like to admit. I felt like I was tearing them apart rather than fitting like the puzzle piece Esme feels I am.

"What are you thinking about?" Edward's words pulled me from my thoughts.

"Nothing in particular." I smiled as he pulled me closer on the couch in his room. "I was just thinking."

"That's a dangerous pass-time for you." He smirked, flicking my nose gently with his finger. "I keep thinking that this will get easier, but it isn't."

"Well, you know that's how normal people feel all the time." I laughed, reminding him. "I was just thinking about Dean. That's all."

"It's still fresh in your mind. It will become easier, I promise." He kissed my forehead.

"When?" I looked up to him, biting my lip. "You've had almost 90 years to forget your pain."

Edward closed his eyes and pulled me closer. "I still mourn the life that was taken from me before I had a chance to live it. And even though I still miss my parents, I still don't regret Carlisle's decision. If he had never taken pity on me and tried to spare me from my fate, then I would have never met you." He opened his eyes and smiled down at me. "You are my greatest treasure, I love you so much Bella."

I smiled, his words making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He was able to keep me from wandering into the dark parts of my mind, but that all changed when he dropped me off for the night at Charlie's.

I made dinner for the both of us, Charlie was worked up over a recent string of burglaries, so he didn't recognize my quiet demeanor. We ate in silence and he walked into the living room to turn on the tv while I stayed behind in the kitchen to clean up. The task only kept my hands busy though, so I had plenty of free time for my mind to bring back images of Dean's final moments and all the feelings I had been trying to hide for a month. I gripped the side of the counter, stifling a sob that felt like it was ripping its way through my lungs and was stuck in my throat. It took a minute, but I was able to calm myself just long enough to go tell Charlie goodnight and to retreat up to my room.

I frowned when I realized that my room was empty. I had forgotten that Edward was going hunting this weekend and that they would be gone all night long and into tomorrow. Just one more thing to put me in a bad mood. I didn't bother changing clothes as I crawled into bed. It didn't matter anyway, I would just be up all night after my latest nightmare so what difference did it make what I was wearing?

Even though Yellow Eyes was still a featured character in my nightly torment, but he was now joined by Lilith and her hell hounds. I knew tonight would be bad because I wouldn't have Edward there to wake me up when they became too much. I went to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, finding the cold and flu medicine that was designed to knock you out at night. I measured out the correct dose and threw it back as if it were a shot. Hoping that it would quieten my subconscious so that I wouldn't dream. Once I got back to my room I started counting backwards from 100, hoping the task would put me to sleep easier.

100….

99….

98….

97….

"Hello Isabella." Lilith smiled as I opened my eyes in New Harmony, Indiana. The scene was frozen except for me and her. Sam was still held up against the wall and Dean's face was contorted in pain as he was attacked by the hell hounds.

"What do you want…?" I tried not to look at them and focus my attention on the demon in front of me.

She was in my face instantly, eyes flashing white, snarling at me. "I want to know how you did it."

"I don't understand what you mean." I swallowed the fear I could feel, and anger replaced it. "How did I do what?"

"You and your brother, I should've been able to kill you and yet, here you are." She grimaced at me. "How did you stop my powers?"

"It wasn't me that did anything…." I shoved her away from me. "I was more concerned with trying to get your stupid mutts off my brother."

Lilith hissed at me. "Don't you talk about my babies that way."

"Whatever…." I rolled my eyes. "I don't want to answer your stupid questions, so just bring on whatever pain you want to inflict on me and be done with it."

A curious expression lit up Lilith's features as she looked at me again. "Who said anything about torturing you? I want to _be_ you Isabella…." She moved closer to me. "I've never seen such a pretty vessel… sure, you're rough around the edges but I am willing to make an exception."

"What in the hell are you talking about?" I growled, dread settling in my stomach as I realized what she meant. "Possessing me?"

"Sure, you would be powerful then." She started circling me. "Sam would be closer with you, I can see how much it hurt you when he chose Ruby over you. With my help, you could stop him from making the worst mistake of his life."

"And what would that be? Him killing you? Don't mistake this for anything other than you trying to survive. No way."

"Even if it meant saving your precious Dean?"

I looked to her, shocked. She smirked as she found the weak link in my defense. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. "Still, no deal… besides, I have one of these." I lifted my shirt to reveal my anti-possession tattoo.

"That's not a problem, as long as I destroy the tattoo. But you know, I was only asking to be nice. I really don't have to get your permission to possess you." Lilith smirked as she grabbed me, digging her nails into my skin.

I cried out in pain, feeling the skin burning around my tattoo and I started yelling. Her eyes turned white again as she opened her mouth and black smoke came out, it enveloped me in a dark fog and I coughed as I tried to get away from her, fearing the smoke had already gotten inside me somehow.

"Don't fight it Isabella, it would be so much easier on you if you would just surrender willingly." I could hear her whisper in my ear.

A part of me wanted to give in, just to have this end. To keep Sam from going further with Ruby. I could even probably go get Dean out of hell with her possessing me. I could be content, sitting in a little dark corner of my mind while she took the reins. I had almost convinced myself when I heard his voice.

"Don't do this Bella." My vision cleared, and I could see Edward, though the smoke was still swirling around me.

"I'm tired of fighting…." I coughed again as more smoke choked its way down my windpipe. "I just want to see my brother…."

"Please keep fighting Bella. I need you." Edward reached out and pushed through the smoke to touch my face. "Wake up Bella… please."

I gasped and woke up to Charlie standing over the bed with a worried look on his face. I continued to cough, wide eyed as I saw the black smoke from my dream dissipating.

"What in the hell…?" I sat up and continued coughing, the black smoke retreating through the crack in my window. I felt like I had just walked out of a room that was on fire. My lungs felt like they were coated in smoke.

Charlie knelt beside me and started patting my back. "What did you dream about Bella?" He handed me a glass of water.

"Lilith… I think she was trying to possess me…." I shivered at the thought. "What did it look like from out here?"

"I heard you screaming, when I got in here it was almost like you were having some kinda seizure. Your eyes had rolled back in your head and once I got to you that black smoke stuff started coming out of your mouth. Is that really what a possession looks like?"

"Sort of… the black smoke is a good sign of one… She couldn't possess me though. I have my tattoo still." I got up and went over to the mirror to check and make sure it was still there. I sighed in relief to find it still intact. I could see Charlie's worried face reflected at me. "Don't worry Charlie. I'll be okay. It's just a nightmare."

"It sure as hell didn't look like one." He frowned at me. "I thought your nightmares were getting better."

"I thought so too…." I shrugged. "Sorry for waking you Charlie. Maybe you should invest in some ear plugs to get a decent night's sleep." I tried to laugh the dream off, but it came out wrong.

"This isn't a joke kid…." Charlie frowned.

"I'll be okay Charlie, really." I hugged him reassuringly. "I know you worry a lot about me, but I'm fine. Go back to bed alright?"

Charlie nodded and ruffled my hair before turning to leave my room. I turned the light off, leaning against the door. I bit my lip as the tears started to fall I wrapped my arms around my knees and pulled them close, sobbing quietly.

I sat there until the sobbing stopped. I walked over to my bed then, pulling out my phone. I dialed Edward's number, knowing he would answer.

"Bella… Another nightmare?" He answered after the first ring.

"Yeah… it was pretty bad…. I'm sorry I called you. I just didn't know who else to call." I sighed, sitting down on the bed. "I'm sure I'm interrupting the hunting trip."

"You are not interrupting anything." I could hear the smile in his voice. "I can come home if you need me to."

"Your eyes were blacker than they've ever been Edward, you needed to go." I tried to keep my voice light and happy to keep him from worrying. "I know it's harder for you to control your thirst when you're hungry."

"It's fine Bella, you come first." Edward replied. "I was just waiting for Emmett and Jasper to finish up. I've had my fill of grizzly for the weekend. If you want me to stay I will. But if you want me to come home, I'll come home."

I bit my lip, hesitating, I really wanted him to come home. But was that a bad thing, to make him come home before he was done hunting? Didn't that make me responsible if he let his vampiric nature take over and he killed someone? Would I ever get a decent night's sleep without him around? Apparently, I waited too long to answer.

"Bella stop frowning, you're gonna get wrinkles that way." He laughed, seeming to read my expression through the phone. "I'm on my way home now. Don't worry."

"Thanks…." I sighed. "I love you Edward."

"I love you too, I'll be there soon." I could hear the smile in his voice.

I hung up the phone and went over to the window, opening it all the way. The skies were overcast, the moon barely visible. I frowned at my cowardly nature. Forks was turning me soft, Lilith shouldn't have gotten to me, but she did, and even though I knew my tattoo would protect me she still tried to possess me. I also had to consider what she told me in the dream and if it was real. She said Sam was making a mistake, was she talking about Ruby? I bit my lip as I considered the consequences of what happened in New Harmony. Dean had once confessed to me and Sam that Dad had wanted him to kill us if we 'ever went bad' due to the demon blood.

I frowned as I looked down at my recent call list on my phone. There were several outgoing calls all to Sam's number that had gone unanswered. Had he gotten a new phone, or was he avoiding me? Since Dean was no longer here to protect Sam from going bad, did I make the wrong decision to come back to Forks? I could have easily gotten a new phone and called Charlie to get Edward's number to check in on Alice. That way I could've stayed with Sam, I could have been the voice of reason for him.

I dialed Sam's number again and it went straight to voice mail. I sighed and set the phone back on my nightstand. Maybe I was being too clingy… he needed his space, right? But a solid month of no contact? I pulled my pillow over my face and growled into it. This was all just so frustrating!

I blinked in surprise as the pillow was removed and Edward pulled me into his cold embrace. "What were you doing? I was worried that something had happened."

"I don't know anymore." I frowned as I snuggled in, shivering slightly at the coolness of his skin combined with the chill of the night air.

"Here," He pulled my blanket off the bed and wrapped it around my shoulders. "I'm sorry I cannot provide you with warmth."

"It's fine." I breathed in his scent finding comfort in it, the smell was more earthy than usual but rather than fight with his own natural scent, it had accentuated it. "Your eyes are almost glowing." I remarked as I looked up at his face.

"It's only because I've just gotten back from hunting. They're the brightest after we've hunted." He smiled a little, feeling at ease while telling me yet another piece to the cryptic puzzle that was this new breed of vampires.

After many long late-night discussions with Carlisle, we had concluded that there must have been two different kinds of vampires created. Carlisle had run into a few of the vampires that I had described in his 300 odd years of traveling the world but never got close enough to study them. He said that they were definitely better at blending in with humans but were also more ferocious than the other vampires that he had met. The Italian coven knew of them as well, but more from the extinction squads that kept the order amongst vampire kind. From the way Carlisle described them, I hoped we would never have the pleasure of meeting his Italian 'friends'.

"I don't think I'll ever understand all there is to know about your kind." I smiled as I reached up to touch his cheek, flushed from the blood of whatever animals they hunted. His skin almost felt warm as I stroked it lovingly. He closed his eyes, leaning into my hand, a content sound rumbling in the back of his throat. I leaned in, pressing my lips to his. The nightmare was nearly forgotten, as if his presence had chased away the fear that I had felt and replaced it with strength and confidence.

He pulled me closer to him as he deepened the kiss, tangling one hand into my hair while the other pressed into the small of my back. "Humans are hard to understand creatures as well." He replied quietly between kisses down my jawline and neck. He rested his head in the space between my neck and shoulder, breathing in deeply. I pulled away from him slightly, and he froze, worried that he had upset me.

"I just don't want it to become too much for you." I explained quietly as I tilted his face up to look at me.

"It's fine Bella. I would never hurt you. You said it yourself, right?" He reminded me with an easy smile. "Why don't you try to go back to sleep, those dark circles are starting to look permanent." He ran his fingers under my eyes and then down my cheek.

"I can't sleep." I frowned as I remembered the latest nightmare. "She'll come back for me."

"Lilith?" He asked, and I nodded. "I won't let her touch you Bella."

"I know…. It's just, every time I close my eyes I can see her face…." I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I still see Dean's mangled body…. I can still see Sam's disappointed face as Lilith got away." I pulled at Edward's shirt, a few tears running down my face. "I can't sleep."

"I'm here now love." He whispered, turning me to the side and pulling us both into a lying position. His hand went to my face, wiping the tears away with his thumb. He kissed me lightly on the lips and pressed his forehead to mine. "I will protect you from any bad dream."

I nodded cuddling into his arms and resting my head on his strong forearm. He began rubbing my back lightly and was humming my lullaby. I smiled, his presence filling my heart with warmth and love. Lilith seemed like a long-forgotten memory as my mind brought up images of time spent with Edward and his family. I felt Edward's hands, one running through my hair and the other rubbing soothing circles on my back. Occasionally he would shift slightly to kiss my forehead and I would snuggle deeper into his embrace.

I don't remember how long I had been asleep but when I woke up I noticed the alarm clock was showing 11:00 AM. Edward wasn't lying next to me but over at the window speaking in a quiet but rushed voice.

"Why did you let me sleep this late?" I complained as I threw a pillow at him. "The day is halfway over with now…."

Edward chuckled at the whining tone in my voice and turned around to pick up the pillow, revealing who he was talking to.

"Alice?" I frowned as I sat up, worried something had happened. "Is everything okay?"

"Hey Bella." Alice grinned from her perch on the tree growing outside my bedroom window. "Everything is fine, I just wanted to ask you something, but my dear old brother doesn't want me to bother you." She narrowed her eyes at her brother playfully as she slipped into the room. She deftly caught the pillow before he could smack her with it. She smirked playfully, her eyebrows raising. "Really Edward?"

He shrugged and was over to the bed in an instant, sitting down on it gracefully.

I laughed at their childish antics. "What did you want to ask me Alice?"

"I was wondering if you would like to go clothes shopping with me. August will be here before you know it and I need to update everyone's wardrobes. Which is why I need Edward to go, but he says that he won't leave you here unprotected." She crossed her arms and let out a huff. "Of course, I have already told him that you are more than capable of protecting yourself."

Now it was my turn to look at Edward through narrowed eyes. He looked back to me sheepishly and massaged my feet through the blanket. "Well she does have a point." I grinned.

"I hear what you both are saying, and I get it." Edward threw up his hands in defeat. "Even though we have heard and seen no more signs of James and his mate I don't want to take any chances on him trying to hurt us. He and his mate made it pretty clear that they were coming after you too Bella."

"I know Edward, I'm sorry." I looked down, being reminded of another failure of not being able to save Alice or to take down her captors. "If it will make everybody happy, I'll go. Even though I won't be joining you all at school."

After everything with Dean and Sam I had decided to drop out of Forks High. The charade seemed kind of pointless at this point and there was no need to continue with it.

Alice beamed and came over to hug me. I laughed as she tackled me to the bed, we both ignored Edward's growl of warning. "I'll bring Edward's car over here, so we can 'officially' invite you for Charlie to see."

I nodded, and she took off out the window, reminding me of a small bird. Edward sighed as he fell backwards onto the bed. He rubbed at his eyes and frowned up at the ceiling. I smiled, watching him for a few moments before I crawled down to the foot of the bed and rested my head against his chest.

"Let me guess, clothes shopping isn't your favorite pass-time?"

"Alice tends to go a little overboard when she goes shopping." He admitted, rubbing my arm slightly. "She's also trying to make up for your birthday that she missed. She wanted to throw you a party, but I told her I didn't think you would be in the mood to have a party."

"You thought right." I frowned. "Too many bad things have happened on May 2nd for me to want to celebrate. It's just one more day to celebrate another year on this rock, surviving. Besides, it was Dean who always made sure Sam and I had a great birthday…." I sighed, holding back the tears, would this ever get any easier?

"I tried to stop her from inviting you to go on this shopping venture, but she wouldn't be swayed. You didn't have to say yes, though I'm sure Jasper is happy that he won't have to be Alice's model this time."

"I wanted to make up for not being here when James attacked her." I defended my actions. "Who knows, I could've stopped him."

Edward didn't say anything, I looked up at him and he seemed to be lost in thought. I sat up, but he wouldn't look at me. "Hey, is everything okay?" I touched the side of his face.

"Yes, of course, why wouldn't it be?" His troubled expression replaced by an easy smile.

"You wouldn't be hiding anything from me just to protect me, would you?" I frowned, calculating his reaction.

"Don't be silly Bella." He sighed, pulling me down to his chest, he tangled his hands into my hair and pulled my face to his, kissing me gently and taking my breath away. My heart began to pound in my chest, I went in for another kiss, wrapping my left leg around his. The air around us becoming heavy and supercharged with that strange electricity that ran through us whenever we touched. He growled slightly and flipped me over before I could recognize what he had done. His mouth attacked mine again with such passion that my whole body felt like it was on fire, and he was the only thing that could put out the flames.

"Edward…." I whimpered in between kisses. He let me breathe but kept up the torture by trailing kisses down the side of my neck, his hands slipped underneath my back and pressed me closer to his body. I gasped in surprise as I felt his teeth rub against my neck and he pulled the skin into his mouth, sucking on it lightly.

He had never done anything like that before, I laid my head back into the mattress and tried not to moan too loudly. Charlie could literally burst in here at any minute and probably try to decapitate Edward for even being in the room. But that was just a small worry on the corner of my mind. If Edward wanted to push our relationship further, I would be a more than willing participant. I wrapped my arms around his back, locking my fingers together, I could feel the muscles in his back jump and budge with the effort of holding the both of us up on the bed. He continued to suck on the skin of my neck and the muscles in my stomach started to curl in anticipation. If he didn't stop….

In that same moment he released me, he was across the room in a second. I laid on the bed, thoroughly dazed and confused. By body crying out at the loss of his contact. I looked over to find him breathing harshly and his face a tossup between panic shock and a little bit of anger. "Alice will be here in a minute… you should get ready."

"Yeah…." I nodded, my body feeling numb. "I guess I should…."

He jumped out the window lightly, leaving me to ponder what in the world just happened.

I dressed quickly, frowning when I saw a purplish bruise on my neck from Edward. Now would have been a great time to have some sort of make up to cover it but I would have to make due with a high-necked sweater. I let my hair fall around my neck and shoulders, hoping that it didn't look as suspicious as I thought.

I walked downstairs to find Charlie in the kitchen reading the newspaper. "Hey kid, I thought I would let you sleep in since you kinda had a rough night last night."

"Thanks Charlie." I settled on making myself a bowl of cereal for breakfast, or I guess now it would technically be lunch. "Alice called a few minutes ago." I told him when I got back to the table. "She invited me to go shopping."

"I guess that mean's Edward will be there too…." Charlie frowned.

"Yeah, he is her brother, and more importantly my boyfriend." I shrugged. "You aren't going to wig out over this are you? I thought you were okay with him."

"Well, he did run off with you last month when Alice got kidnaped." Charlie replied. He and Alice had this weird kinship between them. It wasn't like a father-daughter bond, but something like that. "And he hasn't been able to track the bastard down."

"You know why he came with me, and I sent him home as soon as he got the word that Alice was gone." I frowned, crossing my arms. "It's not his fault James got away. If you want me too, I'll go looking for the bastard."

"No, absolutely not." Charlie responded firmly, taking his plate to the sink to wash it. "That maniac could've killed Alice, she's built of a lot stronger stuff than you are kid. No offense."

"Are you kidding me? I was taking out vamps when I turned 16. This guy should be a piece of cake." I glowered, starting to get angry.

"Oh yeah? Well how are you going to kill him?" Charlie turned back to me. "According to what Alice and Edward have told me, a machete isn't going to hurt him."

"I'll find a way." I looked down avoiding his eyes. I hadn't asked Edward, fearing that he might think I was trying to find out a way to kill him, but maybe if I explained that I would use it to take down James he might tell me. Of course, he would probably react just like Charlie did….

Charlie surprised me by hugging me from behind. "I just don't want you to get hurt Bella…. You mean a lot to me. After Renee left, you were the only family I had."

"I know Charlie… I don't mean to worry you." I leaned into him, wrapping my arms around him.

We both heard tires hitting the gravel driveway and I went to answer the door. Alice reached the door first, her hair dripping wet from the storm. It formed an inky halo around her head. She pulled me into a hug and smiled. "Hey Bella, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, just let me clean up the dishes and get my coat." I looked behind her to see Edward still sitting in the car, he looked at me, a small smile on his face, and he waved slightly. My face registered an easy blush and I looked down.

"Don't worry about the dishes kid, I've got them." I heard Charlie call out from the kitchen. "You go have some fun. But not too much fun okay Alice?"

"Sure, thing Charlie." She spoke loudly before whispering to me. "Don't worry, I won't tell him about the hickey…."

I grimaced as I put on my coat, my hand going to my neck. "Great, you can see it?"

"No but I saw it in a vision… it's really disturbing to see the both of you like that. You need to cool it down…." She rolled her eyes as we walked down to the Volvo.

"I'm sorry Alice." I bit my lip and looked down. She smiled, rolling her eyes and getting into the back of the car. Edward smiled as I took my set beside him, he took my hand, kissing my knuckles gently.

"Get a room…." I jumped as I heard Jasper's sigh from the back seat.

"I'm just getting you back for making me want to scrub my brain with bleach…." Edward reminded him with a smirk before he took off.

"Alice… don't you think this is a little… much?" I frowned as she pushed me into a dressing room. My arms loaded down with more clothes than I even own.

"It's just enough." She replied from the other side of the door. "Do you need help with anything?"

"No…." I blushed at the thought of Alice being in here helping me change, Edward would have a front row seat through her thoughts. "I'm okay Alice."

"Alright, I'm gonna go check on Rose and Esme. I'll be back soon."

"Oh, I don't doubt it for a second…." I muttered under my breath. I knew I was doing this to cheer her up, but did I have to try on all of this?

I was about half way through the clothes when there was a soft knock at the door, I knew it wasn't Alice, knowing her she would've badged in anyway.

I threw on a t-shirt and pants and opened the door. "Hello?" I blushed when I saw Edward at the door.

"I told Alice I would check on you. I figured I would spare you from her whirlwind shopping trips." He smiled warmly.

"I'm okay, I'm half way done." I opened the door further, showing him the clothes. "Let me guess, you guys are all done?" I frowned.

Edward frowned. "Yeah, I told them to go ahead and go back home. I figured I would take you out for dinner after you've finished."

"Sure." I smiled and nodded, closing the door. I soon finished the whole pile and organizing everything into two smaller more manageable piles of rejects and ones that I wanted to keep.

I nearly had a heart attack when the sales girl rang up the total and Edward pulled out a jet-black credit card, handing it to her without hesitation.

"What?" Edward caught my expression before I could hide it.

"Where's the money printer…?" I whispered as we walked out. "I mean, how much money do you guys have?"

Edward smirked as he held the door open for me. "Well, it does help that Alice can see the stock market numbers before they get posted. But don't worry, we all put our small fortunes to good use. I, for one, donate to small town music teachers across the United States to keep them funded."

"Well, at least there's that." I smiled as we walked to the parking lot.


	3. Obsession

**A/N: Hey guys, due to last week being super crazy, I didn't get this uploaded in time. But I do want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has liked, followed and favorited me and this series. It's guys like you that make this all the more enjoyable to write! Please feel free to leave a review or PM me if you like where we are taking this story and where to go from here. The main problem my Co-writer and I are running into is how to combine the events in Twilight with the story line of Supernatural. But were slowly getting there! Any help you guys would like to provide I would greatly appreciate!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or Supernatural, nor their characters.**

 **Chapter 3: Obsession**

 **July 10, 2008**

 **Forks Washington – Seattle Washington**

Ever since Dean's death I had thrown myself into research.

Most of my conversations with Sam since our birthday had ended up in us both shouting at each other about his whole deal with Ruby and we would never talk about our plans to rescue Dean's soul and to return it to his body.

I spent most of my summer break looking into every lore book that I could find and searching its contents for a solution to resurrect my brother. Edward would help where he could but he often worried that I was going deeper into this than I should. That's why I decided to do most of my research on days that I knew Edward would be out hunting. I just didn't want to listen to him trying to talk me out of it.

During one such time I had even gone to the lengths of summoning a crossroads demon. I knew Dean would be pissed, but he would just have to live with it if it meant bringing him home. But of course, even that fell through. The demon said that my life was almost worth his but still no deal. I drove back home in tears and locked myself in my room for the night. I even let Azazel and Lilith do whatever the hell they wanted, I didn't even care anymore.

Edward seemed to pick up on my depression, but even his best intentions couldn't keep away the dark thoughts that often consumed me. It didn't seem to stop him from trying though.

I mostly kept my feelings to myself, trying to enjoy the little adventures he would take me on to lift my spirits. Or even helping me to track down cases just because it was the only way to get me talking again. But I drew the line when it came to him wanting to go with me on the hunts. That was really the only thing we really fought over.

"Why won't you let me go with you?" He finally asked one day while I was packing. "I don't want you to go out there alone. What would your brother say to that?"

"Who says I'm going alone?" I challenged him defensively. "And if you're so worried about Sam's reaction, why don't you call him? Maybe he'll answer your calls…. Sam doesn't care anymore."

It had been two months and it had been a hit or miss with contact from Sam. I had no idea if he was even still alive. I tried searching for his thoughts, we had never really experimented with the distance we could put between us before we couldn't hear each other. I had given up on trying to locate him after two headache filled nights.

"That's not fair Bella and you know that." Edward sighed, putting his hands on my shoulder's to still my movements. "Is Charlie going with you?"

Charlie usually went on hunts with me, but lately he wouldn't be available, and I would have to go on my own. Honestly, I loved it, no wonder Dad did it so much while we were kids. There was such a freedom with going and doing whatever the hell you wanted. You also didn't have to worry about watching your partner's back or making sure they don't get themselves killed. Of course, the only down side was that no one could watch your back as well. But so far, I hadn't come home with too many injuries. This hunt, however, would be a solo trip.

"No, I'm meeting up with Jo." I lied smoothly. "She doesn't know the whole story about you and I would kind of like to keep it that way." I grimaced. "Let's just say that not all hunters are as accommodating as Charlie."

I loved Jo, don't get me wrong, but I saw from Sam's memories that hunters were trying to track them down because we couldn't stop the hell gate from opening, they thought we're the cause. I could only imagen what the hunters at the Roadhouse would think about a hunter dating a vampire. It was just best to keep our relationship secret for now.

"I just want to protect you…." Edward protested with a small frown on his face. He rubbed my shoulders in an attempt to distract me. "If anything were to happen to you…. This could be really dangerous."

"It's always dangerous. I'll be fine. My dad taught me well." I kissed his cheek. "It's just a 'salt-and-burn' case."

"Please don't go." He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine gently, then going back in for a deeper kiss. It was so hard to say no when he did this. I had noticed that whenever I was distracted by my thoughts of Dean or was upset for any reason he would resort to giving me the thing I had fought so hard for. The physical contact was great, and it often helped me forget why I was upset in the first place.

"I hate it when you use this against me…." I closed my eyes and rested my forehead on his. "It's not fair. You can't control me just because I don't want to take me with you."

Edward took a step back from me, wincing at the word 'control'. "I never wanted to do that Bella…."

"Well, that's what it feels like." I crossed my arms. "I am tired of all the men in my life trying to dictate what I get to do and what I don't. My dad and Sam abandoned me, and Dean…." I bit my lip to keep the tears from showing. "They all did it for the sake of 'protecting me'. I need to do this on my own Edward. It's the only way to prove that I am not some worthless damsel in distress. I will not ask for your permission to go on a hunt and if you try to stop me I will find a way to leave." I finished loading salt rounds in my gun and grabbed my bag to head downstairs.

Charlie had left for an early shift at the station, so the house was empty. Edward followed behind me. "Bella…."

"Stop trying to boss me around!" I sighed angrily, walking out the door and putting my bag in the passenger seat. "I'm going and that's it. I'll see you in a few days." I got into the driver's side and saw him standing on the porch. "I love you Edward." I added, even though he was being an asshole… I still loved him.

I backed out of the driveway without looking back to the house. I frowned as I started driving towards my case, realizing that this was the first real fight we had ever had since becoming a couple. I knew what I said had to be said or else I would have ended up being locked in my room. There was a fine line between 'keeping me safe' and 'smothering'.

Ever since Dean had died, I had felt this… anger, boiling up inside of me that only seemed to get better as I killed yet another evil creature. Once I had even called out to Dean to show him that I had done just what he taught me to do, and my heart crushed inside me when I reminded myself that he wasn't here.

Everything seemed to remind me of him, two or three days after I had come back to school we were doing a music lesson in History and Mr. Carson had played one of Dean's favorites. If Edward hadn't been there I probably would have curled up into a little ball on the floor and started to hyperventilate.

I looked to my phone sitting in the console. I would probably call him back later tonight when I got into a motel room to apologize for our fight.

"Just one person?" The motel clerk clarified as I signed in.

"Yes, do you have a problem with that?" I crossed my arms with a frown. "I could go somewhere else."

"No, no… Just trying to keep my establishment clean…." He sniffed as he handed me a motel key. "I don't want any… unsavory types in my motel."

"Well, I don't think an FBI agent would be an unsavory type, would they?" I smiled, flashing him my badge.

He stared at it, wide eyed, but it seemed to work. He even gave me a huge discount on my room. I pulled up to the room and unloaded my back pack.

"Let's see what we have here…." I said to no one as I rummaged around taking stock of everything I had brought with me.

A flashlight, my pistol, extra clips filled with iron bullets, my laptop with the information on the case on it, my array of fake badges and ID cards. I smiled when I pulled out Dean's good luck charm. I pulled the necklace over my head and held the charm tightly in my hand. With his necklace on, it almost felt as if he was in the room with me. I was half expecting him to run out of the bathroom to complain about the fact that I had only gotten a room with one bed and he wouldn't share a bed with Sam.

I laughed as I wiped away a few tears. _What would you think about me now Dean…?_ I shook off my thoughts and pulled the laptop open to finish my research.

"The Aggie House…." I read aloud to myself as I pulled up my most recent search engine. This place was normally somewhere the teenagers dared each other to spend the night in the 'haunted house'. That is, until one of them turned up dead.

Johnathan Millsap was the name of the latest victim. I pulled up his obituary and could only find that he had died of an electric shock akin to a taser shot. My eyes narrowed as I remembered the Rawhead that almost killed Dean. I shook off the memories and kept going. I searched for more incidents of mysterious deaths in the Aggie House and found that most of the killings had happened during the last week of June, every twenty years like clockwork. I frowned, though it seemed ritualistic, several onlookers had seen and heard strange things coming from the house during that week. Weird things like the sounds of a woman crying or things flashing past the window. It had to be a ghost, what else would do that?

I closed my laptop, needing to get some rest so I could find the house I needed. It was only 3pm but I worked better at night anyway. Besides, I didn't need much sleep anyway.

Later on, after I woke up I headed towards the house. "Here we go." I sighed as I pulled up to the house, getting myself ready to go gank Casper. I nearly screamed when something seemed to slam down on the hood of my car. "What in the hell?!" I squinted, realizing the petite figure. "Alice?!"

"Bella, please don't go in there." She pleaded with me, climbing off the car.

"Alice, I'm working!" I hissed as I got out of the car.

"It's too much for you to do alone." She looked back to the house apprehensively before turning back to me. I couldn't tell if she was feeling the same thing I was or not. There was an overwhelming pressure even from out here, I tried to shake off the dread that I could feel emanating from that house.

"I'll be fine." I pushed past Alice and walked over to my bag, grabbing my gun and a wrought iron fire poker. My mind brought up the images from my nightmare where I was the one torturing souls with one of these things. I frowned, putting the poker back in the floorboards.

"No, I've seen it…." Alice grabbed my arm.

"It's a salt and burn… piece of cake." I checked the rounds in my clip making sure they were properly put in and reattached the clip to my gun.

"This vengeful spirit has killed your kind before. I've seen what it is capable of. Please Bella… you're being reckless… I'm worried about you."

"Did Edward put you up to this?" I crossed my arms, frowning. It would be so like him to let me go and think that I was being self-sufficient and doing this on my own. Only to send his sister as a baby sitter…. It's probably a good thing it was Alice, god help her if he had sent Rose….

"He's only worried about you…." Alice shrugged defensively. "We all are."

"You don't have to be." I reminded her, shaking off her hand on my arm. I started towards the house, but she blocked me again with a concerned look on her face.

"You haven't been yourself since your brother died… you won't talk to us, you've barely slept."

"I'm fine." My frown deepened as I walked past her again. "Just leave it Alice, okay?"

"I'm sorry Bella." It seemed as if Alice had given up. "Please, let me help…."

"No offense Alice, but you will only get in my way. I gotta do this on my own."

"Then you leave me no choice." I could hear her sighing behind me.

"Alice just leave me alone-" My sentence was cut off by Alice picking me up and carrying me back to the car. "Let me go!"

"I'm sorry." Alice replied, dodging my flailing attempts to get away from her. "That spirit would have killed you." She put me in the car and started driving.

"Maybe I should have been…." I whispered more to myself, knowing she could hear.

Alice didn't speak for a while. "You don't think that… do you?"

"I don't even know anymore. I probably should be, it's my fault Dean's gone. It should've been me." I admitted, looking down. I spent the rest of the trip in a numb stupor, trying not to think at all because I knew as soon as I did, the dark thoughts would come back to haunt me.

"I'm sorry Bella. I didn't want to pry into your future…. Edward was just worried what you would get hurt and he would feel like it was his fault. Behind the possessiveness he cares a lot about you Bella." She looked to me, expecting some sort of reply from me. I decided to take the childish way out and ignored her. "Fine… give me the silent treatment if you want to." She looked back to the front of the car, I could tell from the tone of her voice and what little of her face I could see that she was upset. I had to remind myself that Alice was in a small minority of people who actually knew the truth about me and still accepted me despite it. I would consider her a friend.

However, this was my life she was messing with. "Don't butt in then.

"I'm sorry… but you know he'll do it again." She warned me cautiously.

"Let me do my job then." I huffed in anger and looked out the window.

She pulled the car to a screeching halt on the side of the road and faced me directly, I had to admit that her best efforts of looking intimidating worked for her. "Can I please help you then?"

I was sure that Alice's suggestion wouldn't go over well with Edward. "I'll call someone else to do it. It's fine, just drive." I pulled out my phone dialing Bobby's number and Alice pulled back onto the road. "Bobby? Can you hear me? I need someone to take over a case for me. Got anybody in the Washington state area?"

"Sure kid. How've ya been? I haven't heard from you since May." Bobby replied, sounding relieved to hear from me.

"Fine…." The tone of my reply was snippy as I thought back to my previous hunt turned sour and my reason for not contacting him was brought to the surface.

"Sam hasn't checked in for a while too."

"What a surprise." My voice turned to sarcasm. "Thanks Bobby." I hung up the phone. "There, happy now?"

Alice replied quietly. "Not really."

I didn't offer her any response. Without the distraction of hunting I could feel the memories that I had been holding back start to creep back towards the surface. I bit my lip against the emotions and turned to face out the window. Maybe it would be better for everyone if I did like the demon had told me. I could just give up on everything. Humans do it every day: Take too many pills, use a pistol, I'm sure Charlie has some rope lying around…. Maybe as a restless spirit I could finally see Sam again, just long enough for him to shoot me into oblivion. I wondered, like Edward, where the monsters went after we killed them.

"Do you want me to tell Edward to stay away?" Alice broke through my thoughts and I looked to see us passing the welcome sign into Forks.

"No, I need to have a little chat with him." I glowered at the sights of the home that I just couldn't escape from.

Alice nodded and started driving towards home. I tried to be nice, I mean it wasn't her fault that her brother was an overbearing controlling ass…. I thanked her before I shut the door and headed for my home. I looked up at the window of my room and could've sworn I saw movement. _Yeah, you should be running right now…._ I narrowed my eyes and walked up to the porch, jamming my keys into the door.

"Bell? Where have you been?" I heard Charlie's voice, but I was already half way up the stairs.

"Not now Charlie…." I spoke loud enough for them both to hear. My childish antics from before reared its ugly head again, but I couldn't help it. The lack of a distraction getting more and more intense as the time progressed. I opened my bedroom door to see Edward standing off to one side, edging closer to the window in case he needed to make a quick escape. _Yeah, you know you're in trouble…._ "Hi…." I frowned at him, crossing my arms against my chest.

"Are you mad?" He asked quietly, looking down at the floor.

"Yes," I noticed him wince. "but not for the reason you think. Obviously getting Alice to follow me was a dick move, but I'm pissed for another reason."

"I couldn't think of anything else to do to keep you safe…." He continued to stare at the floor.

"Edward, you don't get it…." I sighed, throwing my bag onto the bed. "Hunting is all I have of my old life, and now Dean's gone… I need this as a distraction. And yes, it is dangerous. But you have to trust that I know what I'm doing. So please, stop trying to boss me around." I walked over to him and punched him lightly in the stomach. "I just need you to trust me…."

"I do Bella… I'm so sorry, what I did was uncalled for…. It's just hard for me to let you go."

"I get that. But I need this, it's helping me keep sane."

"And I thought I was doing so well…." He smiled sadly.

I sighed and wrapped my arms around him, stretching up to kiss him lightly. "You are helping… I need a balance of the two is all."

"So, am I forgiven?" He asked hesitantly, leaning down to brush his lips against my cheek.

"Yeah," I smiled at his uncertainty. "Just don't do it again?"

He nodded and kissed me lightly. "I guess you want me to leave then." He backed away from me.

"No, you can stay…." I took his hand. "I know why you did it, even if you were being an asshole about it."

After that I sunk further into my depression. I turned Edward away most nights now, refusing to see him because of what he had Alice do. I felt like I couldn't do anything right now. I failed to save my brother, I failed to keep Sam from running away, I failed to do the one thing that I was good at. I was even pushing away the one person that cared about me the most.

Just like before, he still fought hard for what we had but knew that I needed my space. He had decided to let me take the lead on what we did or didn't do. Which was mostly the later to be perfectly honest. He even tried to coax me back out with research on a hunt, but I turned him down. Not even that would help cheer me up.

Charlie could tell that something was wrong with me too but seemed at a loss for how to help me. He had never experienced the things I had. He was brought up as a hunter but after seeing what happened to his cousins when a hunt went bad, he decided to leave that world behind. He was an only child, so he had never experienced the pain of losing a sibling and knowing that it's your fault their dead.

Not only was I locked in my room, but I felt like I was locked in my own head. Turning over the events from Cold Oak to New Harmony, as if I was a spectator and all this madness was happening to someone else. It was some other poor girl who lost her whole family in nearly one night and I felt my heart breaking for her.

I wish there had been one great big reset button, one where I could go back to before I had even met Sam, Dean and Dad…. If I had just said 'no' to John that day… then none of this would have happened. But it may have anyway, I reminded myself bitterly. There was no way to change the past, I might as well live with the consequences of my actions.

There was only one thing left for me to do. I looked over to the case file I had made for James. I grabbed it and flipped through it, pausing at every photo of the victims. They needed justice, hell, so did Alice at this point. I was so wrapped up in my feelings for my brother's that I totally ignored Alice.

She had been drugged and chained to a wall, and it was all just because she lived differently than the rest of her kind. And this sicko from her past wanted to torture her because her creator turned her before James could kill her? My numbness retreated at the much stronger emotion of rage boiling up inside my body. I ran over to my computer and pulled up the abandoned warehouse that they had found Alice in. I also typed in 'red head' into the search engine to see if they were stupid enough to get caught on camera. There was at least one thing I could do right: Taking out the vampire who hurt my friend.

I snorted when the first result was what I was looking for. Someone had captured a 'woman with flaming red hair' and had dubbed her the 'ghost of the cannery'.

"Very original…." I muttered to myself as I continued reading. The armature ghost hunters had reported the smell of decaying flesh and an unmistakable feeling of being watched every time they ventured into the building. I rolled my eyes, it was a surprise that James and his mate would let them go through without killing at least one of them. I guess they thought it would blow their cover. My phone vibrated, and I looked over at the display to see that Edward was calling me. I quickly closed the browser and answered the phone.

"Bella, is everything okay?" Edward asked trying not to sound panicked.

"Yeah, everything is fine." I used the same old line that I had been saying for the past two months. Maybe if I said it enough, it would actually be true. "I was actually getting ready to go to bed."

"Oh… Alice just saw your future shift for a minute and we were getting worried."

"Shift how?" I frowned, hoping he couldn't hear the disappointment in my voice of almost getting caught.

"I don't know…" he sighed. "it happened too quick for her to catch it."

"Maybe it wasn't too drastic of a choice then." I tried to reason with him as I felt a plan coming together in my head.

"I guess not. Well, I will let you go. Sleep well, I love you." I could hear the smile in his voice.

"I love you too." I hoped my voice didn't sound too distracted as I formulated my plan.

Edward and Alice had explained her visions one afternoon when I had been over at their house. She couldn't see everything, just decisions and choices that people make. For example, if I was driving down the road and originally was supposed to go to the right and I made the decision to go left, it would change my future. I knew that Alice wouldn't want me to go looking for James. Edward must have her watching my future for me to do anything reckless, and James was certainly on the top of that reckless list. My future must have changed when I contemplated going after him. So maybe for now it was just best not to decide anything. I had everything I needed at this point, except for a way to dodge Alice's visions.

She had caught me within ten minutes this time. I didn't have much of a chance if I was gonna dodge her all the way to Seattle. I went to my small collection of lore books out and found one full of spells that I had nicked off a witch one year. I flipped through them, wishing that one of them had the forethought of putting these spells in order. I looked for anything that might hide me from other supernatural beings. Witches had to have more enemies than just human hunters.

It took a while, but I finally found a spell powerful enough to conceal me from those gifted with foresight. I smiled, the ingredients list was simple enough, I just had to call Billy down on the Res to get the last few things I needed.

About a week later I finally I had everything I needed and had convinced Edward to go on a long overdue hunting trip.

"I don't want to go with them Bella." He frowned as I all but begged Jasper and Emmett to take him for the week.

"Go, have fun." I laughed at his frowning face. "I don't want my presence in your life to take you away from the things you used to do. Emmett was telling me about the last contest you did."

"Yeah, you still owe me $30 for that…." Emmett grumbled as he pulled on his hiking boots.

"It has been a while since we got together with just the three of us." Jasper agreed solemnly.

Edward sighed, looking between the three of us, knowing he was being ganged up on.

"Besides, Alice is going to keep an eye on me just like you told her to." I frowned, reminding him of what happened with the salt-and-burn case.

He glared at me, apparently not wanting me to bring that up. I crossed my arms and held my chin up defensively. He wasn't the only one who had intimidation tactics… his were just a little better than mine….

It took a little more convincing, but Edward finally agreed to leave. I stayed at his house for a few more minutes after I left to familiarize myself with his room. My thoughts were taking a dark turn and I knew that there was the possibility that I wouldn't make it back from this hunt. In fact, I intended not to. Yes, I will admit that I have been reckless, doing more solo hunts lately, pushing my boundaries more than I should. But it was the only way to feel closer to Dean, I could keep his spirit alive with me by carrying on like he wanted me too. And if I couldn't bring him back, I would just have to go to him.

But I would have to leave Edward behind. I felt my heart clench at the thought, but I couldn't live like this, not anymore. I had been trying to keep it together for months and I wasn't doing a good job.

I went downstairs and saw Alice staring out the window thoughtfully. Jasper and Emmett had gone with Edward on a boy's trip. There was at least one thing I could do. I could bring James down for Alice, even if I had to die trying.

After I said goodnight to her and Esme I drove to my house, pulling into the driveway. I took a deep breath as I looked to the spell from the witch's spell book. I took out the necklace that I wanted to use for the spell and cast it. I hoped that it worked as I fastened it around my neck. I pulled back out of the driveway. I could only go off what Edward had told me about where the found Alice. Which to be honest, wasn't much, but it was a start.

I took a sketch from Alice's notebook from a vision she had of James and took it to the marina in Seattle and questioned some of the workers. They pointed me towards an abandoned building where a few fishermen had gone missing over the past few weeks. I rolled my eyes as I left the fishermen to their disbelief. I pulled up to the warehouse and got out pocketing Dean's lighter and grabbing the spray paint. Edward said that fire was the only thing that could kill the vampires like him. I looked to the machete in the back seat, hesitating. I strapped it onto my back, you could never be too prepared.

"Ready to die asshole?" I glared as I entered the building, holding the spray paint can in front of me. "Time to light you up sparklepire…." As soon as I stepped over the building I could smell the blood of a fresh kill. "Great…" I muttered. "JAMES?!" I yelled, calling out as I traveled deeper into the warehouse. "Come out here you dick! Didn't you say you wanted me?! Well here I am! Come and get me!" I heard something running behind me quickly. I spun around, hand going to my machete reflexively. "Calm down Bella…." I took a deep breath.

I heard a dark chuckle coming from the shadows. "Some fierce hunter you are…."

"Come out here so I can kill you!" I glared into the dim light. I didn't know what James sounded like, but who else would be hanging out at an abandoned warehouse?!

"That's not how we play the game Isabella." James's voice came from a new direction, like he was trying to psych me out. But I stayed calm and level headed.

"Oh, screw you!" I growled. "Where's the red head? Had a fight? Or trouble in paradise?" I smirked.

Movement on my left side made me turn to face it. "She's checking on something else for me." A man stepped into the light, his blonde hair in a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck, his clothes were defiantly weather worn, and his feet were bare. His face was still covered in the blood of his latest kill, he smirked at me after licking his lips.

"Dude…" I grimaced. "I know you're a vampire, but you gotta get some table manners…. What are you, five?"

He glared at me. "I could really care less what you think…."

"You hurt my friend, tortured her…."

He smirked with a knowing look. "If you had come to the rescue, none of this would have happened."

I bristled defensively. "I had my reasons."

"It was all just a ploy to get to you." He grinned, walking around me. "Her being the only prey to ever escape me was just a bonus."

"You sick bastard." I turned to face him. "What do you want with me anyway?"

"Well, I have some… 'friends' that need you out of the picture."

"Like who?" I glared as he continued his circle around me.

"Like me." My heart filled with dread as I heard a familiar voice coming from behind James.

"Meg? You bitch…." I glared at her.

She smirked. "Good to see you too Bella-boo…."

"Meg here told me that your brothers are very important." James looked to Meg then back to me.

"I haven't heard that before." I wondered if they were lying, it wouldn't be the first time that they had lied to get what they want.

"Well, what you don't know won't hurt you." Meg shrugged. "The important thing for you to do is to stay away from Sam."

I narrowed my eyes at her warily. "Why in the hell would I do that? He's my brother."

"He also abandoned you." Meg grinned. "I bet that pissed you off."

"Now, now." James put his hand on her shoulder. She looked down at it and glared at him. "I think it's time to get to the crux of the matter…." He took his hand away and moved away.

"Back off…." I warned him holding the spray paint up the lighter held in front of it. "Or you get lit up faster than you can blink."

"Ooh… someone's been learning…." Meg laughed right before she vanished.

James smirked, sensing that it was his turn. "Shall we begin?

I dropped the spray paint, pulling out my machete, lunging forward. In a flash he disappeared, moving too fast for me to register. I felt pain blossoming in the back of my head where James had apparently smacked me. I fell to the floor, trying to ignore the pain. My hand went to the back of my head and I felt the pounding at the base of my skull.

"Thanks for the new toy." James smirked, picking up the machete.

I tried to push through the pain, thinking quick before he decided to use it on me. I looked to the spray paint can that I had dropped, thinking quickly, I began to spray pulling out my lighter and setting the spray on fire.

"Damn…." James muttered, narrowly missing the fireball. I dropped the spray paint again as I felt his fingers digging into the flesh of my leg, causing me to cry out in pain. "You won't get away with that hunter." He squeezed his hand into my leg breaking it easily. I screamed in pain, struggling to get away from him. "It hurts, doesn't it? You're just weak and pathetic…."

He released me, and I tried to crawl away from him, what was I thinking? This was too much for me to handle on my own. It looked like it wouldn't be long before I would join my brother in death. He managed to drag me back by my broken leg, slamming me into a wall. My head hit a window, which shattered. I gasped in pain, pulling the glass out of my hair, feeling the stickiness of the blood where the glass cut me. I tried to stand when my leg buckled underneath me, and I fell.

"Damn it…." I winced.

James knelt beside me, a smile of utter delight on his face. "Now, I'm gonna kill you, your precious little Eddie, and your whole little troupe of vamps." He grabbed me by the face and picked me up.

"You stay away from them…." I snarled at him.

"I don't have to do anything." He growled. "I don't take orders from you." He punched me in the ribs, breaking three easily.

I gasped in pain, coughing blood as he dropped me again.

"The game is no fun if you don't play it…" A low growl building in his chest. "Keep it up. I like to hear them scream…."

I was slowly losing consciousness, I had to do something. The lighter was still in my hand, the top was broken on it, I flicked flame on and threw it at him. "Bite me, ass hat…."

James, who was apparently too distracted by the scent of my bleeding wounds. He didn't notice me throwing the lighter, he screamed, skin igniting.

"I told you…." I smiled, close to passing out. I stabbed him in the foot with my blade. The tip was covered in the same substance that they used to incapacitate Alice. "I will kill you…."

He managed to stumble back a few feet before being immobilized, quickly going up in flames.

I gasped in agony, falling back on the floor with a groan, panting. The pain was becoming too much. "I did it…." A small smile on my face despite the pain. Dark spots start to invade my vision. I could hear the building start to catch fire around me. _This is it I guess…. M'sorry Sam…._ I didn't know if he could hear me or not. The smoke started to build around me and I started coughing. I couldn't help but feel calm as I faced the end of my life. The nightmares would stop now, the judgmental stares from my classmates would stop, Charlie's sympathetic attempts to make me feel at home would stop. All of it would just stop. I could finally see Dean and Dad again. Hell, I might even find mom while I'm there. Wherever 'there' is.

I could hear a loud noise breaking through the crackling sound of the fire. I should have been relieved, of course the stupid spell wouldn't have worked. They would have found me so quickly. I could barely feel their cool hands touching me. I may have heard my name being called but all I wanted to do was sleep. I just wanted to be with Dean… I missed my Dad… I wanted to meet my mom. My world went dark as I slipped into the darkness.

 **Chapter 3: Obsession**

 **July 10, 2008**

 **Forks Washington – Seattle Washington**

Ever since Dean's death I had thrown myself into research.

Most of my conversations with Sam since our birthday had ended up in us both shouting at each other about his whole deal with Ruby and we would never talk about our plans to rescue Dean's soul and to return it to his body.

I spent most of my summer break looking into every lore book that I could find and searching its contents for a solution to resurrect my brother. Edward would help where he could but he often worried that I was going deeper into this than I should. That's why I decided to do most of my research on days that I knew Edward would be out hunting. I just didn't want to listen to him trying to talk me out of it.

During one such time I had even gone to the lengths of summoning a crossroads demon. I knew Dean would be pissed, but he would just have to live with it if it meant bringing him home. But of course, even that fell through. The demon said that my life was almost worth his but still no deal. I drove back home in tears and locked myself in my room for the night. I even let Azazel and Lilith do whatever the hell they wanted, I didn't even care anymore.

Edward seemed to pick up on my depression, but even his best intentions couldn't keep away the dark thoughts that often consumed me. It didn't seem to stop him from trying though.

I mostly kept my feelings to myself, trying to enjoy the little adventures he would take me on to lift my spirits. Or even helping me to track down cases just because it was the only way to get me talking again. But I drew the line when it came to him wanting to go with me on the hunts. That was really the only thing we really fought over.

"Why won't you let me go with you?" He finally asked one day while I was packing. "I don't want you to go out there alone. What would your brother say to that?"

"Who says I'm going alone?" I challenged him defensively. "And if you're so worried about Sam's reaction, why don't you call him? Maybe he'll answer your calls…. Sam doesn't care anymore."

It had been three months and it had been a hit or miss with contact from Sam. I had no idea if he was even still alive. I tried searching for his thoughts, we had never really experimented with the distance we could put between us before we couldn't hear each other. I had given up on trying to locate him after two headache filled nights.

"That's not fair Bella and you know that." Edward sighed, putting his hands on my shoulder's to still my movements. "Is Charlie going with you?"

Charlie usually went on hunts with me, but lately he wouldn't be available, and I would have to go on my own. Honestly, I loved it, no wonder Dad did it so much while we were kids. There was such a freedom with going and doing whatever the hell you wanted. You also didn't have to worry about watching your partner's back or making sure they don't get themselves killed. Of course, the only down side was that no one could watch your back as well. But so far, I hadn't come home with too many injuries. This hunt, however, would be a solo trip.

"No, I'm meeting up with Jo." I lied smoothly. "She doesn't know the whole story about you and I would kind of like to keep it that way." I grimaced. "Let's just say that not all hunters are as accommodating as Charlie."

I loved Jo, don't get me wrong, but I saw from Sam's memories that hunters were trying to track them down because we couldn't stop the hell gate from opening, they thought we're the cause. I could only imagen what the hunters at the Roadhouse would think about a hunter dating a vampire. It was just best to keep our relationship secret for now.

"I just want to protect you…." Edward protested with a small frown on his face. He rubbed my shoulders in an attempt to distract me. "If anything were to happen to you…. This could be really dangerous."

"It's always dangerous. I'll be fine. My dad taught me well." I kissed his cheek. "It's just a 'salt-and-burn' case."

"Please don't go." He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine gently, then going back in for a deeper kiss. It was so hard to say no when he did this. I had noticed that whenever I was distracted by my thoughts of Dean or was upset for any reason he would resort to giving me the thing I had fought so hard for. The physical contact was great, and it often helped me forget why I was upset in the first place.

"I hate it when you use this against me…." I closed my eyes and rested my forehead on his. "It's not fair. You can't control me just because I don't want to take me with you."

Edward took a step back from me, wincing at the word 'control'. "I never wanted to do that Bella…."

"Well, that's what it feels like." I crossed my arms. "I am tired of all the men in my life trying to dictate what I get to do and what I don't. My dad and Sam abandoned me, and Dean…." I bit my lip to keep the tears from showing. "They all did it for the sake of 'protecting me'. I need to do this on my own Edward. It's the only way to prove that I am not some worthless damsel in distress. I will not ask for your permission to go on a hunt and if you try to stop me I will find a way to leave." I finished loading salt rounds in my gun and grabbed my bag to head downstairs.

Charlie had left for an early shift at the station, so the house was empty. Edward followed behind me. "Bella…."

"Stop trying to boss me around!" I sighed angrily, walking out the door and putting my bag in the passenger seat. "I'm going and that's it. I'll see you in a few days." I got into the driver's side and saw him standing on the porch. "I love you Edward." I added, even though he was being an asshole… I still loved him.

I backed out of the driveway without looking back to the house. I frowned as I started driving towards my case, realizing that this was the first real fight we had ever had since becoming a couple. I knew what I said had to be said or else I would have ended up being locked in my room. There was a fine line between 'keeping me safe' and 'smothering'.

Ever since Dean had died, I had felt this… anger, boiling up inside of me that only seemed to get better as I killed yet another evil creature. Once I had even called out to Dean to show him that I had done just what he taught me to do, and my heart crushed inside me when I reminded myself that he wasn't here.

Everything seemed to remind me of him, two or three days after I had come back to school we were doing a music lesson in History and Mr. Carson had played one of Dean's favorites. If Edward hadn't been there I probably would have curled up into a little ball on the floor and started to hyperventilate.

I looked to my phone sitting in the console. I would probably call him back later tonight when I got into a motel room to apologize for our fight.

"Just one person?" The motel clerk clarified as I signed in.

"Yes, do you have a problem with that?" I crossed my arms with a frown. "I could go somewhere else."

"No, no… Just trying to keep my establishment clean…." He sniffed as he handed me a motel key. "I don't want any… unsavory types in my motel."

"Well, I don't think an FBI agent would be an unsavory type, would they?" I smiled, flashing him my badge.

He stared at it, wide eyed, but it seemed to work. He even gave me a huge discount on my room. I pulled up to the room and unloaded my back pack.

"Let's see what we have here…." I said to no one as I rummaged around taking stock of everything I had brought with me.

A flashlight, my pistol, extra clips filled with iron bullets, my laptop with the information on the case on it, my array of fake badges and ID cards. I smiled when I pulled out Dean's good luck charm. I pulled the necklace over my head and held the charm tightly in my hand. With his necklace on, it almost felt as if he was in the room with me. I was half expecting him to run out of the bathroom to complain about the fact that I had only gotten a room with one bed and he wouldn't share a bed with Sam.

I laughed as I wiped away a few tears. _What would you think about me now Dean…?_ I shook off my thoughts and pulled the laptop open to finish my research.

"The Aggie House…." I read aloud to myself as I pulled up my most recent search engine. This place was normally somewhere the teenagers dared each other to spend the night in the 'haunted house'. That is, until one of them turned up dead.

Johnathan Millsap was the name of the latest victim. I pulled up his obituary and could only find that he had died of an electric shock akin to a taser shot. My eyes narrowed as I remembered the Rawhead that almost killed Dean. I shook off the memories and kept going. I searched for more incidents of mysterious deaths in the Aggie House and found that most of the killings had happened during the last week of July, every twenty years like clockwork. I frowned, though it seemed ritualistic, several onlookers had seen and heard strange things coming from the house during that week. Weird things like the sounds of a woman crying or things flashing past the window. It had to be a ghost, what else would do that?

I closed my laptop, needing to get some rest so I could find the house I needed. It was only 3pm but I worked better at night anyway. Besides, I didn't need much sleep anyway.

Later on, after I woke up I headed towards the house. "Here we go." I sighed as I pulled up to the house, getting myself ready to go gank Casper. I nearly screamed when something seemed to slam down on the hood of my car. "What in the hell?!" I squinted, realizing the petite figure. "Alice?!"

"Bella, please don't go in there." She pleaded with me, climbing off the car.

"Alice, I'm working!" I hissed as I got out of the car.

"It's too much for you to do alone." She looked back to the house apprehensively before turning back to me. I couldn't tell if she was feeling the same thing I was or not. There was an overwhelming pressure even from out here, I tried to shake off the dread that I could feel emanating from that house.

"I'll be fine." I pushed past Alice and walked over to my bag, grabbing my gun and a wrought iron fire poker. My mind brought up the images from my nightmare where I was the one torturing souls with one of these things. I frowned, putting the poker back in the floorboards.

"No, I've seen it…." Alice grabbed my arm.

"It's a salt and burn… piece of cake." I checked the rounds in my clip making sure they were properly put in and reattached the clip to my gun.

"This vengeful spirit has killed your kind before. I've seen what it is capable of. Please Bella… you're being reckless… I'm worried about you."

"Did Edward put you up to this?" I crossed my arms, frowning. It would be so like him to let me go and think that I was being self-sufficient and doing this on my own. Only to send his sister as a baby sitter…. It's probably a good thing it was Alice, god help her if he had sent Rose….

"He's only worried about you…." Alice shrugged defensively. "We all are."

"You don't have to be." I reminded her, shaking off her hand on my arm. I started towards the house, but she blocked me again with a concerned look on her face.

"You haven't been yourself since your brother died… you won't talk to us, you've barely slept."

"I'm fine." My frown deepened as I walked past her again. "Just leave it Alice, okay?"

"I'm sorry Bella." It seemed as if Alice had given up. "Please, let me help…."

"No offense Alice, but you will only get in my way. I gotta do this on my own."

"Then you leave me no choice." I could hear her sighing behind me.

"Alice just leave me alone-" My sentence was cut off by Alice picking me up and carrying me back to the car. "Let me go!"

"I'm sorry." Alice replied, dodging my flailing attempts to get away from her. "That spirit would have killed you." She put me in the car and started driving.

"Maybe I should have been…." I whispered more to myself, knowing she could hear.

Alice didn't speak for a while. "You don't think that… do you?"

"I don't even know anymore. I probably should be, it's my fault Dean's gone. It should've been me." I admitted, looking down. I spent the rest of the trip in a numb stupor, trying not to think at all because I knew as soon as I did, the dark thoughts would come back to haunt me.

"I'm sorry Bella. I didn't want to pry into your future…. Edward was just worried what you would get hurt and he would feel like it was his fault. Behind the possessiveness he cares a lot about you Bella." She looked to me, expecting some sort of reply from me. I decided to take the childish way out and ignored her. "Fine… give me the silent treatment if you want to." She looked back to the front of the car, I could tell from the tone of her voice and what little of her face I could see that she was upset. I had to remind myself that Alice was in a small minority of people who actually knew the truth about me and still accepted me despite it. I would consider her a friend.

However, this was my life she was messing with. "Don't butt in then.

"I'm sorry… but you know he'll do it again." She warned me cautiously.

"Let me do my job then." I huffed in anger and looked out the window.

She pulled the car to a screeching halt on the side of the road and faced me directly, I had to admit that her best efforts of looking intimidating worked for her. "Can I please help you then?"

I was sure that Alice's suggestion wouldn't go over well with Edward. "I'll call someone else to do it. It's fine, just drive." I pulled out my phone dialing Bobby's number and Alice pulled back onto the road. "Bobby? Can you hear me? I need someone to take over a case for me. Got anybody in the Washington state area?"

"Sure kid. How've ya been? I haven't heard from you since May." Bobby replied, sounding relieved to hear from me.

"Fine…." The tone of my reply was snippy as I thought back to my previous hunt turned sour and my reason for not contacting him was brought to the surface.

"Sam hasn't checked in for a while too."

"What a surprise." My voice turned to sarcasm. "Thanks Bobby." I hung up the phone. "There, happy now?"

Alice replied quietly. "Not really."

I didn't offer her any response. Without the distraction of hunting I could feel the memories that I had been holding back start to creep back towards the surface. I bit my lip against the emotions and turned to face out the window. Maybe it would be better for everyone if I did like the demon had told me. I could just give up on everything. Humans do it every day: Take too many pills, use a pistol, I'm sure Charlie has some rope lying around…. Maybe as a restless spirit I could finally see Sam again, just long enough for him to shoot me into oblivion. I wondered, like Edward, where the monsters went after we killed them.

"Do you want me to tell Edward to stay away?" Alice broke through my thoughts and I looked to see us passing the welcome sign into Forks.

"No, I need to have a little chat with him." I glowered at the sights of the home that I just couldn't escape from.

Alice nodded and started driving towards home. I tried to be nice, I mean it wasn't her fault that her brother was an overbearing controlling ass…. I thanked her before I shut the door and headed for my home. I looked up at the window of my room and could've sworn I saw movement. _Yeah, you should be running right now…._ I narrowed my eyes and walked up to the porch, jamming my keys into the door.

"Bell? Where have you been?" I heard Charlie's voice, but I was already half way up the stairs.

"Not now Charlie…." I spoke loud enough for them both to hear. My childish antics from before reared its ugly head again, but I couldn't help it. The lack of a distraction getting more and more intense as the time progressed. I opened my bedroom door to see Edward standing off to one side, edging closer to the window in case he needed to make a quick escape. _Yeah, you know you're in trouble…._ "Hi…." I frowned at him, crossing my arms against my chest.

"Are you mad?" He asked quietly, looking down at the floor.

"Yes," I noticed him wince. "but not for the reason you think. Obviously getting Alice to follow me was a dick move, but I'm pissed for another reason."

"I couldn't think of anything else to do to keep you safe…." He continued to stare at the floor.

"Edward, you don't get it…." I sighed, throwing my bag onto the bed. "Hunting is all I have of my old life, and now Dean's gone… I need this as a distraction. And yes, it is dangerous. But you have to trust that I know what I'm doing. So please, stop trying to boss me around." I walked over to him and punched him lightly in the stomach. "I just need you to trust me…."

"I do Bella… I'm so sorry, what I did was uncalled for…. It's just hard for me to let you go."

"I get that. But I need this, it's helping me keep sane."

"And I thought I was doing so well…." He smiled sadly.

I sighed and wrapped my arms around him, stretching up to kiss him lightly. "You are helping… I need a balance of the two is all."

"So, am I forgiven?" He asked hesitantly, leaning down to brush his lips against my cheek.

"Yeah," I smiled at his uncertainty. "Just don't do it again?"

He nodded and kissed me lightly. "I guess you want me to leave then." He backed away from me.

"No, you can stay…." I took his hand. "I know why you did it, even if you were being an asshole about it."

After that I sunk further into my depression. I turned Edward away most nights now, refusing to see him because of what he had Alice do. I felt like I couldn't do anything right now. I failed to save my brother, I failed to keep Sam from running away, I failed to do the one thing that I was good at. I was even pushing away the one person that cared about me the most.

Just like before, he still fought hard for what we had but knew that I needed my space. He had decided to let me take the lead on what we did or didn't do. Which was mostly the later to be perfectly honest. He even tried to coax me back out with research on a hunt, but I turned him down. Not even that would help cheer me up.

Charlie could tell that something was wrong with me too but seemed at a loss for how to help me. He had never experienced the things I had. He was brought up as a hunter but after seeing what happened to his cousins when a hunt went bad, he decided to leave that world behind. He was an only child, so he had never experienced the pain of losing a sibling and knowing that it's your fault their dead.

Not only was I locked in my room, but I felt like I was locked in my own head. Turning over the events from Cold Oak to New Harmony, as if I was a spectator and all this madness was happening to someone else. It was some other poor girl who lost her whole family in nearly one night and I felt my heart breaking for her.

I wish there had been one great big reset button, one where I could go back to before I had even met Sam, Dean and Dad…. If I had just said 'no' to John that day… then none of this would have happened. But it may have anyway, I reminded myself bitterly. There was no way to change the past, I might as well live with the consequences of my actions.

There was only one thing left for me to do. I looked over to the case file I had made for James. I grabbed it and flipped through it, pausing at every photo of the victims. They needed justice, hell, so did Alice at this point. I was so wrapped up in my feelings for my brother's that I totally ignored Alice.

She had been drugged and chained to a wall, and it was all just because she lived differently than the rest of her kind. And this sicko from her past wanted to torture her because her creator turned her before James could kill her? My numbness retreated at the much stronger emotion of rage boiling up inside my body. I ran over to my computer and pulled up the abandoned warehouse that they had found Alice in. I also typed in 'red head' into the search engine to see if they were stupid enough to get caught on camera. There was at least one thing I could do right: Taking out the vampire who hurt my friend.

I snorted when the first result was what I was looking for. Someone had captured a 'woman with flaming red hair' and had dubbed her the 'ghost of the cannery'.

"Very original…." I muttered to myself as I continued reading. The armature ghost hunters had reported the smell of decaying flesh and an unmistakable feeling of being watched every time they ventured into the building. I rolled my eyes, it was a surprise that James and his mate would let them go through without killing at least one of them. I guess they thought it would blow their cover. My phone vibrated, and I looked over at the display to see that Edward was calling me. I quickly closed the browser and answered the phone.

"Bella, is everything okay?" Edward asked trying not to sound panicked.

"Yeah, everything is fine." I used the same old line that I had been saying for the past three months. Maybe if I said it enough, it would actually be true. "I was actually getting ready to go to bed."

"Oh… Alice just saw your future shift for a minute and we were getting worried."

"Shift how?" I frowned, hoping he couldn't hear the disappointment in my voice of almost getting caught.

"I don't know…" he sighed. "it happened too quick for her to catch it."

"Maybe it wasn't too drastic of a choice then." I tried to reason with him as I felt a plan coming together in my head.

"I guess not. Well, I will let you go. Sleep well, I love you." I could hear the smile in his voice.

"I love you too." I hoped my voice didn't sound too distracted as I formulated my plan.

Edward and Alice had explained her visions one afternoon when I had been over at their house. She couldn't see everything, just decisions and choices that people make. For example, if I was driving down the road and originally was supposed to go to the right and I made the decision to go left, it would change my future. I knew that Alice wouldn't want me to go looking for James. Edward must have her watching my future for me to do anything reckless, and James was certainly on the top of that reckless list. My future must have changed when I contemplated going after him. So maybe for now it was just best not to decide anything. I had everything I needed at this point, except for a way to dodge Alice's visions.

She had caught me within ten minutes this time. I didn't have much of a chance if I was gonna dodge her all the way to Seattle. I went to my small collection of lore books out and found one full of spells that I had nicked off a witch one year. I flipped through them, wishing that one of them had the forethought of putting these spells in order. I looked for anything that might hide me from other supernatural beings. Witches had to have more enemies than just human hunters.

It took a while, but I finally found a spell powerful enough to conceal me from those gifted with foresight. I smiled, the ingredients list was simple enough, I just had to call Billy down on the Res to get the last few things I needed.

About three weeks later I finally I had everything I needed and had convinced Edward to go on a long overdue hunting trip.

"I don't want to go with them Bella." He frowned as I all but begged Jasper and Emmett to take him for the week.

"Go, have fun." I laughed at his frowning face. "I don't want my presence in your life to take you away from the things you used to do. Emmett was telling me about the last contest you did."

"Yeah, you still owe me $30 for that…." Emmett grumbled as he pulled on his hiking boots.

"It has been a while since we got together with just the three of us." Jasper agreed solemnly.

Edward sighed, looking between the three of us, knowing he was being ganged up on.

"Besides, Alice is going to keep an eye on me just like you told her to." I frowned, reminding him of what happened with the salt-and-burn case.

He glared at me, apparently not wanting me to bring that up. I crossed my arms and held my chin up defensively. He wasn't the only one who had intimidation tactics… his were just a little better than mine….

It took a little more convincing, but Edward finally agreed to leave. I stayed at his house for a few more minutes after I left to familiarize myself with his room. My thoughts were taking a dark turn and I knew that there was the possibility that I wouldn't make it back from this hunt. In fact, I intended not to. Yes, I will admit that I have been reckless, doing more solo hunts lately, pushing my boundaries more than I should. But it was the only way to feel closer to Dean, I could keep his spirit alive with me by carrying on like he wanted me too. And if I couldn't bring him back, I would just have to go to him.

But I would have to leave Edward behind. I felt my heart clench at the thought, but I couldn't live like this, not anymore. I had been trying to keep it together for months and I wasn't doing a good job.

I went downstairs and saw Alice staring out the window thoughtfully. Jasper and Emmett had gone with Edward on a boy's trip. There was at least one thing I could do. I could bring James down for Alice, even if I had to die trying.

After I said goodnight to her and Esme I drove to my house, pulling into the driveway. I took a deep breath as I looked to the spell from the witch's spell book. I took out the necklace that I wanted to use for the spell and cast it. I hoped that it worked as I fastened it around my neck. I pulled back out of the driveway. I could only go off what Edward had told me about where the found Alice. Which to be honest, wasn't much, but it was a start.

I took a sketch from Alice's notebook from a vision she had of James and took it to the marina in Seattle and questioned some of the workers. They pointed me towards an abandoned building where a few fishermen had gone missing over the past few weeks. I rolled my eyes as I left the fishermen to their disbelief. I pulled up to the warehouse and got out pocketing Dean's lighter and grabbing the spray paint. Edward said that fire was the only thing that could kill the vampires like him. I looked to the machete in the back seat, hesitating. I strapped it onto my back, you could never be too prepared.

"Ready to die asshole?" I glared as I entered the building, holding the spray paint can in front of me. "Time to light you up sparklepire…." As soon as I stepped over the building I could smell the blood of a fresh kill. "Great…" I muttered. "JAMES?!" I yelled, calling out as I traveled deeper into the warehouse. "Come out here you dick! Didn't you say you wanted me?! Well here I am! Come and get me!" I heard something running behind me quickly. I spun around, hand going to my machete reflexively. "Calm down Bella…." I took a deep breath.

I heard a dark chuckle coming from the shadows. "Some fierce hunter you are…."

"Come out here so I can kill you!" I glared into the dim light. I didn't know what James sounded like, but who else would be hanging out at an abandoned warehouse?!

"That's not how we play the game Isabella." James's voice came from a new direction, like he was trying to psych me out. But I stayed calm and level headed.

"Oh, screw you!" I growled. "Where's the red head? Had a fight? Or trouble in paradise?" I smirked.

Movement on my left side made me turn to face it. "She's checking on something else for me." A man stepped into the light, his blonde hair in a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck, his clothes were defiantly weather worn, and his feet were bare. His face was still covered in the blood of his latest kill, he smirked at me after licking his lips.

"Dude…" I grimaced. "I know you're a vampire, but you gotta get some table manners…. What are you, five?"

He glared at me. "I could really care less what you think…."

"You hurt my friend, tortured her…."

He smirked with a knowing look. "If you had come to the rescue, none of this would have happened."

I bristled defensively. "I had my reasons."

"It was all just a ploy to get to you." He grinned, walking around me. "Her being the only prey to ever escape me was just a bonus."

"You sick bastard." I turned to face him. "What do you want with me anyway?"

"Well, I have some… 'friends' that need you out of the picture."

"Like who?" I glared as he continued his circle around me.

"Like me." My heart filled with dread as I heard a familiar voice coming from behind James.

"Meg? You bitch…." I glared at her.

She smirked. "Good to see you too Bella-boo…."

"Meg here told me that your brothers are very important." James looked to Meg then back to me.

"I haven't heard that before." I wondered if they were lying, it wouldn't be the first time that they had lied to get what they want.

"Well, what you don't know won't hurt you." Meg shrugged. "The important thing for you to do is to stay away from Sam."

I narrowed my eyes at her warily. "Why in the hell would I do that? He's my brother."

"He also abandoned you." Meg grinned. "I bet that pissed you off."

"Now, now." James put his hand on her shoulder. She looked down at it and glared at him. "I think it's time to get to the crux of the matter…." He took his hand away and moved away.

"Back off…." I warned him holding the spray paint up the lighter held in front of it. "Or you get lit up faster than you can blink."

"Ooh… someone's been learning…." Meg laughed right before she vanished.

James smirked, sensing that it was his turn. "Shall we begin?

I dropped the spray paint, pulling out my machete, lunging forward. In a flash he disappeared, moving too fast for me to register. I felt pain blossoming in the back of my head where James had apparently smacked me. I fell to the floor, trying to ignore the pain. My hand went to the back of my head and I felt the pounding at the base of my skull.

"Thanks for the new toy." James smirked, picking up the machete.

I tried to push through the pain, thinking quick before he decided to use it on me. I looked to the spray paint can that I had dropped, thinking quickly, I began to spray pulling out my lighter and setting the spray on fire.

"Damn…." James muttered, narrowly missing the fireball. I dropped the spray paint again as I felt his fingers digging into the flesh of my leg, causing me to cry out in pain. "You won't get away with that hunter." He squeezed his hand into my leg breaking it easily. I screamed in pain, struggling to get away from him. "It hurts, doesn't it? You're just weak and pathetic…."

He released me, and I tried to crawl away from him, what was I thinking? This was too much for me to handle on my own. It looked like it wouldn't be long before I would join my brother in death. He managed to drag me back by my broken leg, slamming me into a wall. My head hit a window, which shattered. I gasped in pain, pulling the glass out of my hair, feeling the stickiness of the blood where the glass cut me. I tried to stand when my leg buckled underneath me, and I fell.

"Damn it…." I winced.

James knelt beside me, a smile of utter delight on his face. "Now, I'm gonna kill you, your precious little Eddie, and your whole little troupe of vamps." He grabbed me by the face and picked me up.

"You stay away from them…." I snarled at him.

"I don't have to do anything." He growled. "I don't take orders from you." He punched me in the ribs, breaking three easily.

I gasped in pain, coughing blood as he dropped me again.

"The game is no fun if you don't play it…" A low growl building in his chest. "Keep it up. I like to hear them scream…."

I was slowly losing consciousness, I had to do something. The lighter was still in my hand, the top was broken on it, I flicked flame on and threw it at him. "Bite me, ass hat…."

James, who was apparently too distracted by the scent of my bleeding wounds. He didn't notice me throwing the lighter, he screamed, skin igniting.

"I told you…." I smiled, close to passing out. I stabbed him in the foot with my blade. The tip was covered in the same substance that they used to incapacitate Alice. "I will kill you…."

He managed to stumble back a few feet before being immobilized, quickly going up in flames.

I gasped in agony, falling back on the floor with a groan, panting. The pain was becoming too much. "I did it…." A small smile on my face despite the pain. Dark spots start to invade my vision. I could hear the building start to catch fire around me. _This is it I guess…. M'sorry Sam…._ I didn't know if he could hear me or not. The smoke started to build around me and I started coughing. I couldn't help but feel calm as I faced the end of my life. The nightmares would stop now, the judgmental stares from my classmates would stop, Charlie's sympathetic attempts to make me feel at home would stop. All of it would just stop. I could finally see Dean and Dad again. Hell, I might even find mom while I'm there. Wherever 'there' is.

I could hear a loud noise breaking through the crackling sound of the fire. I should have been relieved, of course the stupid spell wouldn't have worked. They would have found me so quickly. I could barely feel their cool hands touching me. I may have heard my name being called but all I wanted to do was sleep. I just wanted to be with Dean… I missed my Dad… I wanted to meet my mom. My world went dark as I slipped into the darkness.


	4. Tying Loose Ends

**Chapter 4: Tying Loose Ends**

 **July 10-12, 2008**

 **Seattle Washington**

 **EPOV**

It was as if my worst nightmares were coming true. I never thought she would go after him, we told her what happened when we rescued my sister. She seemed to know how dangerous all this was, and yet I thought that it would be enough to keep her from going after him. But as soon as Alice called me I knew that it was all just me thinking she could handle it.

I raced back home as fast as I could, leaving my brother's in the dust. Alice gave me the general location of where Bella went, and I got into my Volvo, so singularly focused on getting to her before Bella got herself into trouble, or worse. My eyes widened as I finally found her car sitting outside of a warehouse that was on fire.

"BELLA?!" I screamed as I raced towards the building.

"Don't be stupid Edward." Emmett grabbed me before I could go in. He and Rosalie were stepping out of her M3 along with the Alice and Jasper. I saw Carlisle's Mercedes off in the distance driving towards us. "You need to be careful."

"She's in there Emmett! I can't let her die! I can't!" I shook off his hand and looked for a way in.

"Over here Edward!" Alice found a part of the building that the flames hadn't touched yet. Emmett ripped the sheet metal from the wall to create an opening. I flew in and tried to make out the shapes in the room. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to be pulled towards her scent.

I growled as I found her scent mingled with her blood, when I found her I was nearly brought to my knees by the state of her injuries. I pushed my emotions down and I picked her up, rushing through the hole that Emmett had made. I set her down a safe distance away from the building, I could hear Rosalie on the edges of my consciousness calling 911 to report the fire.

Carlisle knelt beside Bella, checking her vitals.

"He could've killed her… what was she thinking?! Oh Bella…." My voice broke as I took stock of her injuries. James had broken her leg and she had cuts and bruises covering every surface of her skin that was visible. Her heart was what troubled me the most, it was very faint and weak.

"She'll be okay Edward." Alice touched my shoulder, wincing at her own thirst. Even though Bella's blood was my heroin didn't mean that it didn't affect the other's. It just wasn't as strong to them.

"We need to get her to a hospital. Alice, take off your belt and get me some wood. I need to brace her leg."

Alice does so. Jasper found a piece of wood, leaving it beside Carlisle and stepped back, the blood causing his throat to burn.

"Don't do it Jasper…." Emmett cautioned him, ignoring his own burning throat.

"I'm sorry Bella…." Alice said quietly as she took Jasper's hand and they fled to a safe distance. It didn't take long for the others to do the same, leaving Carlisle and I to tend to Bella's wounds.

"At least she wasn't bitten…." Carlisle's voice rang with relief as he secured her leg to the wood. I couldn't stop the shudder that passed through my body at the thought of James's teeth at her neck, a dark smile spreading across his face.

"I'm sure she suffered some smoke inhalation…." Carlisle listened to her lungs with a concerned look on his face.

"Let's get her to a hospital then." I growled a little in impatience, keeping an eye on her heart rate.

"Alright… just be careful with her leg."

I nodded, picking her up and carrying her back to Carlisle's car. Bella began to stir, a pained moan passing through her lips. I held back a tearless sob as I kissed her forehead lightly. "It's alright Love…." I could taste her blood on my lips and I had to fight to keep my composure. My demonic-self reacted to the blood hungrily. Carlisle pushed his car further, sensing, like I did, Bella's weakening heart.

"Please don't suggest it Carlisle…" I winced at his thoughts of changing her. "I don't think I could live with that…."

 _Could you do without her?_ His thoughts ran through my head. I chose to ignore them, holding my reason for living close to me, monitoring her heart beating weakly in her chest.

I nearly bolted out of the car with Bella in my arms as we arrived at the closest hospital.

"Help, someone we need help!" I shouted as I carried Bella's limp body through the emergency room. Everyone turned in our direction as the nurses came around the station and surrounded us.

"What happened?" One of them asked.

"She was involved in a house fire…. A beam fell on her leg." I answered automatically, staring down at her paler than normal complexion; she just had to be alright, if anything had happened to her…. I carried her into the nearest room and ignored the nurses' futile attempts to shove me out into the hall. I watched them as they shoved needles in her arms and check her vitals. If I hadn't been so sick with worry I would have told them her heart was still beating. The thoughts of the doctor who came in seemed to frown upon the explanation that I had given him but thankfully for his sake was more focused on getting Bella stable.

"Sir, you are going to have to go out into the hall." I tried to focus on the nurses that were restraining me.

"No, I can't leave her." I can't believe I had torn my gaze away from Bella long enough to deal with this insignificant human. I was about to say something not very nice in return to her more forceful explanation of removing me when a cold hand touched my shoulder.

 _Edward, you are starting to draw attention._ Carlisle's voice drifted into my thoughts. I turned to stare at him, seeing my wild eyes wide with panic and confusion reflected at me. "Son, we've done all we can, let the professionals handle this." He added for the human's benefit.

With one more desperate glance at Bella I looked down at the nurse. "Do whatever you have to save her… I can't live without her." And then I allowed Carlisle to drag me out of the room.

I collapsed down in the chair outside the hall; not out of physically being tired I was just so emotionally drained that I couldn't remember how to walk anymore. I was gasping for air, though there was no relief tied to the sensation of oxygen flowing through my vacant lungs. It almost felt like my dead heart was trying to claw its way out of my chest. I realized then that Bella was going to kill me, in the literal and the metaphorical sense of the word. I tried to help her with hunts, but if she was going to keep putting herself in dangerous situations…. Victoria's words came back to me about protecting her, maybe I did need some help. I looked back to Bella, she looked so frail on the hospital bed. Then I remembered who put her there. I glared at the vision my mind concocted, I knew _exactly_ what way of 'helping' that Victoria mentioned.

But that wasn't even the worst of my problems. I had almost lost the most precious thing in my life, and I couldn't protect her from the most dangerous part of this lifestyle. My own uncontrollable demon raging inside of me.

Even as she lay, dying, in the next room, every nerve in my body was telling me to go in there and finish the job. I stared down at my hands, still covered in her blood and resisted the urge to lick them clean. My head snapped up at a curious thought of a passerby and I could see the terror in their eyes as they shied away from me and kept walking down the hall.

"Edward, maybe you should go outside." I heard Carlisle's soft but commanding voice beside me.

"I can't leave her, Carlisle." My grief painfully obvious in my voice. "I am responsible for her being in that hospital bed. I need to pay for my short comings. But even after all of that. I still want to go in there and-" I cut myself off. I locked down my senses, now would not be a good time to let my instincts go wild.

 _Edward you handled yourself brilliantly._ He smiled at me. _You conquered your fear, in the face of such a tremendous temptation. You denied your thirst to save her. You are still denying it now._

"I hate to disagree with you." I muttered quietly. "Have you heard from the others?"

 _Alice, Jasper and Emmett are coming here to check on her later. As for Rosalie and Esme, they are going home to check on Charlie._

I grimaced as I thought of their plans. "Does he know anything?"

 _More than I would like him too and there is also her brother to consider as well._

The doctor came out of Bella's room and I rose a little too quickly for a normal human being.

 _Remember we are still trying to be inconspicuous._ Carlisle reminded me as he addressed the doctor. "How is she doing?"

"Well, she's lost a remarkable amount of blood, several cuts and bruises, and who knows what else until we can run further tests."

I tried to remember how to breathe normally as I sat back down and stared at nothing. I faintly listened to the rest of the conversation.

"But she's stable?" Carlisle redefined his earlier statement.

"For now, you can go in and see her, but I wouldn't stay long, she needs her rest." The doctor looked at his chart and then back up to Carlisle. "Whoever patched her up on site did a bang-up job."

I ignored the rest of their conversation which included the doctor praising Carlisle's medical expertise and Carlisle being the humble gentleman he is. I went into her room and went straight to her side; out of habit I was going to take her fragile hand and place it in mine, but I hesitated our skin almost touching. _Haven't you caused enough damage for one day?_ I asked myself bitterly.

I pulled away, noticing the reaction of the heart monitors, a small part of me was bemused by the fact that even unconscious I still 'dazzled' her, as she once confessed to me. I felt something vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out, realizing I still had Bella's cell phone. I took it from her when we found her, just in case…. The number was private, I wasn't sure if she wanted to answer it. After a second's deliberation I hit the call button.

"Hello?"

"Did I get the right number…?" I heard a male voice asking. "I'm looking for my sister, Bella."

"No. This is her phone." I assured him quietly. "I'm Edward. Her boyfriend."

"Oh, the vampire?" I could practically hear the frown in his voice.

"Yes." I frowned, I guessed Bella told her brother about me before she came back to me.

"Where's Bella? Why are you answering her phone?"

"She got hurt-" I was cut off by shouting on the other end of the phone.

"What?! Did you hurt her?! I swear I'll-"

"No, I didn't!" I growled, trying to keep my voice down. "She had gone out on a hunt. She went after a rouge vampire and got hurt. I swear to you on my life that I would never hurt her. She's in the hospital."

"Have you heard anything?" Her brother's voice was concerned.

"She's doing well. They just got finished stitching up her wounds. There was a fire, so they are going to check her breathing now." I explained the rest in a rush, my eyes never leaving Bella's form.

"She went alone? What in the hell was she thinking?!" He retorted angrily.

"I would have gone with her if she had let me… She snuck away." My eyes narrowed at her as I thought back to her vastly complicated plan. She knew how to play my family I could give her that. Just then a nurse came in to shoo me out again. "I have to go Sam." I walked out, giving him the location of the hospital and hung up.

Day turned to night and as the sun started breaking through the clouds on her second day in the hospital. I sat by the window, shades down of course, and watched over her, as I had done on countless occasions before in her room. The first nurses to come in there started to tell me that visiting hours were over and the doctor said to leave, but one glance at me told them that it was best to leave me to my own devices. What was it she called me that one time, her guardian angel? I laughed to myself bitterly. What guardian angel is a bloodthirsty demon that tries so hard to be good but always comes up short?

Carlisle came in later and said that Alice wanted to talk to me. I regretted leaving her for even a second, if – no _when_ , she wakes up, I needed to be there. But I also needed to talk with my family. There was still one rouge vampire on the loose. I left Bella in Carlisle's care and walked down into the lobby.

My ability to read minds came in handy sometimes and gave me a headache other times. In this instance it was the latter. The hum of voices grew louder and louder like they were trying to talk over one another but one, or rather three voices were louder and clearer than the rest.

 _Edward I'm so sorry, I should have known she would play with my visions._ I heard Alice's frantic apologies as I got of the elevator. _I had no idea she was going to run._

I sighed as I listened to her inner dialogue for another few minutes before I found their hiding place from the sun.

"Alice, it's okay." I reassured my sister lightly. "I know you didn't mean it."

"We still haven't found the red head…." Emmett had been leaning against the wall and studying a floor tile the entire time. "We need to go out and follow her."

"No, it's too sunny out and we will draw more unnecessary attention. She won't attack us during the day and in this crowded place. She'll wait till nightfall and track us."

"That's a cheerful thought." Emmett grumbled.

"Alice, are you sure you can't see anything?" I asked grasping at anything that would give us an advantage.

"Nothing concerning Victoria." She answered honestly. I watched in her mind as she showed me the vision she had earlier of Bella's hospital room. She was awake, thankfully, with four men in the room; Carlisle, Charlie, myself and a taller man with shoulder length brown hair that I could only assume was her brother. We were all in the middle of an argument. _I'd say her twin is pretty upset that his sister was whisked away by a 'fang' as he so cheerfully refers to us as._ Alice added on.

"I'll deal with them when the time comes." All I could see was Bella sitting up in her hospital bed, alive. I sighed as I looked back towards the elevator.

"Go on." Alice smirked at me. "I know you want to be there when she wakes up."

"We'll be on the lookout for the welcoming party and let you know when to head for the hills." Jasper put his arm around Alice and they shared a small kiss.

"I'll use brutality if necessary." Emmett shot off as he punched my shoulder. "Go on, tell Bella to get better."

"I hope brutality won't be necessary Emmett." I frowned grimly as I bided them farewell and headed back upstairs. Carlisle was waiting on me, he said that her first blood transfusion had been successful and asked where the others were. I told him, and he left to go down to them. The nurse that was on duty was the one who had detained me yesterday; she smiled tentatively as she checked Bella's vitals once more before trying to escape from the room.

"Excuse me." I tried to use my non-threatening voice. She turned, slightly awed by attempts to talk to her. "I just wanted to apologize for my actions earlier. They were unforgivable, and I behaved rather childishly."

Her eyes glazed over, and she had to blink a few times before she replied. "Uh… no apologies…. I would have done the same thing…." Maybe I went a little too overboard on the charming part. I released her from my gaze as I turned to look at Bella once more. I didn't hesitate this time; I brushed the length of her arm from her fingertips to her shoulder, the heart monitor went ballistic. I laughed softly as I pulled a chair over and took her hand in mine. The demon of my thirst entered my thoughts then and reminded me of how that very hand felt a few hours before hand I tried to shut out the memories, but I couldn't help myself from leaning down and breathing in the scent of her wrist.

I scowled at this monster inside of me. His growling filled my head as I pulled away from her. He complained that she didn't smell the same. I smelled her wrist once more to confirm that she did smell different; I wracked my brain trying to figure out what the difference had been. Then I realized that it must be the blood transfusions. I smirked to myself as I considered the possibility of this curing my desire to kill her, or at least make it easier to deal with it.

Another part of me, the slightly more human side loved the way she smelled, something that I had informed her of once before. I stayed with her, by her side, just like the angel that she claimed that I was, sometimes holding her hand and rubbing it gently, other times I would lean over her and steal a kiss on her forehead and gently brush my fingers through her light brown locks. Who was she to be throwing around the word 'angel' when I was nothing compared to her beauty?

The day came and went, and my patience wore thin as the minutes moved sluggishly on. Carlisle came up shortly after dusk to let me know that Jasper and Emmett were heading out to try and track down Victoria while Alice went back to the scene of the fire to try and pick up her scent.

"No change?" He looked at Bella and then at the machines keeping her alive.

"No." I looked down at her hopelessly, she had gained back some of her color but not completely, her chest rose and fell rhythmically as a machine did the breathing for her, it was literally heart wrenching to see her in this state, and it was all my fault.

Almost as if Carlisle could read my thoughts he said, "Edward, this is not your fault. You need to stop blaming yourself."

"How can I not Carlisle?" I looked at him desperately. "She could have died. If it weren't for me James wouldn't have gone after her. There was just so much blood…." I forced myself to shut down my thoughts; it wasn't going to help anyone in this hospital if I was to let myself lose control again.

"The point is that you saved her." He put his hand on my shoulder and I turned to face him, Bella's hand still in mine. I had refused to let it go, even as the nurses made their rounds, making their jobs more difficult but I didn't care. "The cuts, the bruises, even the broken leg will heal with time." Then he sighed. "Of course, if you had only let me change her this would have made things a lot less complicated. You realize that we'll have to have this conversation again in a few months, maybe years if we're lucky."

"What do you mean?" I searched his thoughts. He saw many different options ahead of us. One: Bella wouldn't recover from her injuries. I shook my head, forcing myself not to dwell on that one, besides Alice had seen her awake in a vision of hers. Two: Bella's brother would get here before we could explain, or that they could just kill us without wanting an explanation. Then there was his third option, what if somehow, by some miracle, were we able to convince them that we meant no harm and Bella was to survive this accident with only minor damage, then maybe there was a chance that I could still be with her. "I see what you mean about the options."

"But what about further down the road? When some other calamity hits her family and she runs off again? What if you are too late to save her? You have obviously chosen not to live without her, so what will you do when her short human life burns out?"

"I have already thought about that." After months of sitting in her dark bedroom, waiting for the chance to see her bright, shining eyes again, I had plenty of time to think of contingency plans. "At first, I thought I could just follow her where ever she decides to go, enjoying the time I have with her, and then when the time comes somehow I would find a way to follow. But after seeing everything that I have, I'm starting to realize that her life span is shorter than most here on Earth." I looked back down at her. She was looking a little bit better but still not 100%. I brushed the back of my hand across her cheek and took a little pleasure in how the monitors reacted; Carlisle's thoughts rang with disapproval.

"I realize now that I may not get the time that I wanted to spend with her." My thoughts were darkened as I remembered all the stories she had told me about the enemies that she and her brothers had to face. "And that scares me worse than anything he could have done to her…." Especially when I thought about Victoria and her 'friends'. Not to mention that Meg was out there somewhere. Bella had told me that she was a demon capable of possessing humans. She could be anyone right now and I wouldn't know the difference. She could even be one of the nurses that came in and out, being so close to Bella and literally holding her life in their hands.

I scanned the thoughts of the humans that passed by the door, none of them seemed to want to harm Bella in any way, though how could I know that they were not just acting in that way to keep me from knowing their true intentions?

 _Alice called a while ago and said that Sam was on his way here now. He stopped in Forks to pick up Charlie._ Carlisle took a seat across from me with Bella in between us.

"Now they'll both want to kill me I guess…." I rolled my eyes and frowned.

 _You know we won't let that happen._ Carlisle reminded me with a smirk. _I think they will be more concerned with Bella than they will be with you._

At that moment, Bella began to stir. Carlisle and I looked down at her. _I'll go get the nurse._ Carlisle rose up and left the room.

"James…." She winced as she tried to move away. "Gotta… get away…." She moaned in pain.

"Shh, Bella, you're safe now." I touched her cheek to try and calm her down.

"Edward…?" She turned to face me, her green eyes weak with the effort. "How… what happened…?"

"I got you out Love." I leaned in, so she could hear me. "You're in the hospital."

She closed her eyes, wincing. "The fire?"

"You killed him." I assured her with a small smile. Alice found his ashes among the rest of the rubble.

"Good… the red head wasn't there…." She grimaced. I knew that her ribs were broken, it must be causing her pain. "I have to go find her."

My eyes widened as she tried to sit up in the bed, she winced with the effort. I gently pushed her back to the bed. "No, lay down. You've got a broken leg…."

"Shit…." She gasped for air, managing to pout. "I guess that's why I can't move it."

"Of course, you would be pouting about it." I rolled my eyes fondly, just happy to see her awake.

She sighed. "I'm sorry…. I know I royally screwed up."

"Yes, you did." I sat in my chair beside her as she sighed.

"I don't know what to do now…." She admitted, looking down. "James was my end game and I still managed to screw that up." She clenched her teeth, a few tears escaping.

"What?" I didn't understand her reaction, more importantly her words.

She kept her focus on the white tiles on the floor, her voice barely a whisper. "I didn't want to survive this Edward… it wasn't a revenge mission… it was a suicide mission…." She laughed humorlessly, looking to the IV in her hand. "I screwed that up too."

"Why are you just telling me this now?" I asked, not bothering to hide the true concern in my voice. I had hoped that she was finally coming to terms with her brother's passing. I should have seen the signs more clearly.

"I thought everything was okay… but I'm not… not at all." She looked up to me then, the pain and suffering in her eyes nearly cut me to the bone. "I want to stop feeling this way… like I'm a burden that everyone has to deal with. The guilt is eating me alive Edward. It's my fault that my brother is dead… I told him I would fix it and I didn't." She closed her eyes doing nothing to stop the tears from falling down her face. "He's screaming in Hell right now… it should've been me."

I absorbed her words, for once, not knowing what to do to comfort her. I listened to her cry softly, her hand squeezing mine with a slight tremble. It was as if all the emotions that she had been keeping back from the world were trying to overpower her all at once. Too much for her small frame to contain. "That is a lot of weight to carry on your shoulders Bella." I finally answered. "I'm sorry Bella… I should have seen that you weren't happy. I tried so hard to keep you safe that I wasn't paying attention to your feelings."

"No… don't blame yourself." She pulled my hand to her cheek to lean into it. "I should be apologizing. I just… with Sam gone… I…." She began to babble uncontrollably as the tears continued to fall.

"Shh…." I consoled her, freeing my hand from her grip to hold her face in my hands. "It's alright now. He's on his way here now. Alice said he's about two hours away now."

Her eyes widened, and she smiled a little. "Sam's coming…?"

"Yes." I returned her smile with a relieved one of my own. "He called when we first brought you here. He must have decided to come and check on you himself."

"Okay…." She put her hands over mine, rubbing them with her thumbs. "I really am sorry Edward… I messed up big time…." She sniffled, trying to quiet the sobs.

"It's alright Love. I understand now." I replied, leaning in to press my forehead to hers. She smiled a little. "I love you."

"I love you too." She whispered back just before our lips met. We both smiled when the heart monitor went wild. I chuckled softly as I pulled away, taking her hand once more before sitting down.

"I'm so happy to see those green eyes again." Looking into her bright shimmering eyes I felt at peace. As if the whole time she had been asleep was like I had been lost in the dark. I had nearly succumbed to the darkness in my heart, deciding to go after Victoria for what she did to the only thing precious to me. But Bella reminded me that I am not the man I used to be and that I never wanted to return to that man again.

Victoria's threat didn't seem to matter much to me at first, but now it terrified me. If James was capable of this, god knows what the demons were capable of. But I certainly couldn't trust Victoria to do the job of protecting her. I had been formulating a plan for a while now, but could I really do it? Could I make the ultimate sacrifice and cut myself out of her life? Just thinking about it made my stomach turn. And how could I keep Victoria away from her?

I could put her evasion skills to the test, like in a bizarre game of cat and mouse. I could track her down and end this once and for all. Without their mouth piece to try and control us the demons would have no reason to attack us anymore. It looked like I had two options ahead of me:

One: I give in to Victoria's desires and leave Bella here in Forks with Victoria's word that no harm will come to her if she does what she's told. All the while never knowing what happened to her unless Alice see's something.

Or Two: I stay behind and wait for some unknown force to try and attack us again, and I wouldn't be able to protect her, possibly losing my whole family in the process.

The two options were constantly at war in my head, although I hid it well. Victoria hadn't given me a deadline, but I was pretty sure it would be soon. Maybe there was a third option I hadn't considered.

I could leave, and make it look permanent for Victoria and Meg. Leaving Bella in the care of her brother and Charlie, and I wouldn't come back until I found a way to bring her brother back. I wouldn't stop until I had scoured every book on the earth to find a solution. Only then would I prove worthy enough to stand by her side.

I looked back down at Bella, my internal dilemma only taking a second in the real world. Which was really a moot point in the end because I knew I could never go through with my plans…

I was too weak.

I couldn't leave her…. I would condemn my own family to death if it meant standing by her side for just a few minutes longer. And that scared me a lot more than I would like to admit.


	5. Blood

**Chapter 5: Blood**

 **July 12-16, 2008**

 **Forks/Seattle Washington, Pontiac Illinois**

 **Sam POV**

"Don't go Sam." I felt her hand on my arm, griping it tightly. "She's fine."

I had just put my phone back in my pocket. "I have to Ruby. She's my sister." I looked back at the woman who had become more of a friend rather than a teacher to me. "I don't even know if she's out of that coma yet."

"One little call to her vamp boy toy will give you the answer." She huffed, aggravated with me. "Seattle is at least a two, maybe even three day's drive from here."

"Or you could just transport us there in a second and then we could get back to our original plan." I challenged her with a smirk.

"Yeah right, like I'm going to go into a vamp trap…. Besides, I think I'm the last person your sister wants to see right now. She still thinks I'm dead right? You didn't tell her?"

I nodded, looking down. I had been avoiding Bella, for good reason. The last time we were together had almost ended up in an argument. Besides, she wanted to move on, go back to her normal life. What kind of big brother would I be if I stood in the way of that when she let me do the same thing not too long ago. Ruby had a point, Bella still thought she was dead. But it was because I had completely cut myself off from my sister. Going against Dean's wishes. But it wouldn't matter if I could bring his killer to justice, maybe even bargain for his soul.

"Hello? Earth to Sam?" Ruby caught my attention again by pulling on my arm.

"I have to do this Ruby, she's the only family that I have left."

"She abandoned you when you needed her the most, just like Dean! Except he had no choice! She chose those blood sucking leeches over her own brother!" Her little rant caused the bulbs in the motel room to suddenly explode all at once.

"I know that, and we'll deal with it when we get Dean back." I assured her quietly. "But right now, I need to go check on her. I promise, just give me a week." I pulled out my laptop and searched for a few places we could meet after I left Forks. I turned the laptop to face her. "Here, I'll be there in six days. If you're there, then I'll know you want to continue training. If not… then I'll have my answer."

"This is a bad idea…." She crossed her arms. I smirked, she was so cute when she didn't get her way.

I sighed, pulling a card out of my wallet. "Look, give me one week, six days. Meet me here, and then we'll go and do whatever the hell you want. Just give me five days to go check on my sister."

She took the card skeptically, frowning at me.

"I'll be fine." I laughed, trying to give her a little reassurance. "You forgot who you're dealing with."

She rolled her eyes and disappeared. I took that as her blessing for my trip to Washington. I quickly loaded up my gear and checked out.

The trip to Forks was long and exhausting but I finally made it, showing up at Charlie's door. I really didn't know what I was up against with this coven, so I would need all the help I could get just in case this whole deal goes south. I told Charlie that I wanted him to go to see Bella. He seemed to accept that and then we set off to the address that Edward had given me.

When we arrived at the hospital, the nurse pointed us in the right direction for Bella's room and I ran for the door, feeling more anxious than I had in the past week. I reached out with my mind to try and hear her thoughts. I didn't know if I was out of practice with it or if she was asleep, but I got barely coherent thoughts back in response. I tried not to let the worry show on my face as I knocked on the door and heard her muted voice telling me to come in.

I hesitantly walked into the room. It looked like your standard hospital room, bed, sink, machines that made all kinds of noises, and a couch underneath the window. I looked to the couch and saw a young boy standing off to one side, his eyes downcast. Bella was lying in the bed, looking paler than I remembered her being, and the blankets wrapped around her. "Bella?"

She turned to me, her eyes dulled by the medicine and a small smile on her face. "Hey Sam…."

"I'm glad to see you awake." I walked over to her side, smiling in relief.

"Thanks." Her eyes moved to her adoptive father. "Hey Charlie."

"Hey kiddo…." Charlie's voice broke a little. "Glad you're okay."

She sighed. "I'm not okay… but I'll get there." She looked over at the boy with a smile on her face. The boy looked up at her and returned her smile.

Through the haze of the medication Bella was on I could see flashes of memories from the accident. I realized that this must have been the vampire she told me about and the one who answered her phone. Whether I liked it or not, I did owe him for taking care of her, so I couldn't be mad at him. But still, every other vampire we had met always turned rotten in the end.

"Hi… I'm Sam, Bella's twin." I extended my hand to him over Bella's bed.

"Hello." He stepped forward cautiously. Looking down at my hand before taking it. "I believe we spoke on the phone earlier."

"Yeah." His skin was as cold as a corpse I tried not to let my aversion show. _If he had anything to do with this…._

"Don't Sam." Bella tried sitting up, I guessed that she had heard my thoughts. "I went on my own. I tried to hunt a vamp and t went sideways. Edward tried to protect me, but I didn't listen, I snuck off. Long story short, there was a fire and he pulled me out. If it wasn't for him I would be dead."

I frowned as she read my thoughts. I would have to get used to sharing my thoughts with her again. "Thank you…." I looked at Edward again. "I should have been there to stop her, I'm glad she had you to take my place."

"I would protect her with my life." Edward's voice held such raw emotion and compassion in it. There was no doubt that he meant every word. I looked to Bella to find her smiling at him.

"So, what's the damage?" I looked down at Bella again, worrying about how many injuries the vampire had inflicted.

She winced. "Broken leg, four broken ribs, fractured skull."

"He really did a number on ya huh?"

"Yeah…." Then she added under her breath. "Sparkly bastard…." Edward smirked, she looked up at him. "No offense."

"None taken." He bit his lip to hide a smile.

Charlie spoke up then, confusion in his voice. "Do what now?"

"Nothing…." She turned to him, her cheeks burning red with a blush and she grinned. She looked past us towards the door. "Where is Carlisle? When can I get out of here?"

"You're here for a few more days." Edward reminded her with a small smile.

"Seriously?" She frowned.

"Doctor's orders." He sighed with a very serious look on his face.

"Are you sure they aren't your orders?" She challenged him with a smirk.

"Both." He took her hand and smiled.

Bella sighed, knowing a fight is pointless.

"You've always hated hospitals." I spoke up quietly.

"You're right. It's never ended well…." She frowned. We shared thoughts of all the times we had been in a hospital.

"You are not wrong about that…." I agreed.

"At least you have a doctor on call." Charlie reminded her with a smile.

At that moment, a tall blonde-haired man came in. "It's good to see you awake." He came to stand beside Edward.

"Hey Carlisle." Bella smiled at him. "This is Edward's dad."

I saw from Bella's thoughts that this must have been the doctor on call Charlie was talking about. "Nice to meet you Doctor Cullen."

He returned my gesture and checked over Bella before looking to Edward and leaving.

"So, what have you been doing the past three months?" Bella took my hand.

I shrugged before my thoughts could give me away. "Just hunting…." I intentionally blocked her from seeing my thoughts, only letting through a few that involved hunting. That had been something Ruby had taught me.

She frowned at me, seeming to detect something was off. "Any leads on Dean?"

"Nothing…." I sighed, trying to sound frustrated over it. I knew keeping her out of trouble by not telling her what's going on was my best bet to keep her safe. "I have no leads."

"Damn… I'm just coming up with loose ends…." She sighed. "There's gotta be something."

"We'll keep looking." I leaned in and kissed her on the forehead in a brotherly way. "I'd love to stay sis but I gotta get back."

"Why? You just got here." She pulled at my hand before I could leave.

"I'm sorry." I deftly avoided her question. "I'll be in touch okay?"

"That's the same thing you said last time." She showed me the memory from after the funeral.

I winced. "I know… and I'm sorry about that too. Things have been rough." I pulled back my block just enough to show her all the bad nights from the past few months. "But I promise I'll be okay."

I hated to leave, but I knew I had too. Seeing Bella just proved how much she needed Dean back. And I would do anything to make sure I brought him back to her. I knew one of the vampires would give Charlie a ride home.

The drive back to Illinois was long, I realized that today was the last day for Ruby to wait on me. I drove to the pub and got out hastily.

"I was starting to think you wouldn't show." Ruby smirked as she found me. "Bob & Ringo's? Really?"

I frowned. "Sorry… I had it in my wallet because-"

"Let me guess, you and that hero big brother of yours got together here once before. How cliché…." I just shrugged in response. "How's the traitor?"

" _Bella_ is fine…" I glared at her as we got a table, ordering only drinks. "and she's not a traitor."

"Really?" She gave me a skeptical look. "She picked them over you. I'm not surprised." She snorted.

"No one picked sides. Stop it Ruby." I warned her, she had no right to talk about her that way.

"Why should I? This is exactly what I was worried about you're not focused. You can't be distracted."

Now it was my turn to snort out laughter. "I'm fine Ruby."

"You realize Lilith could've been there and killed you both." She challenged me. "So, you gotta work on your abilities."

I hadn't really thought of Lilith going after Bella, she didn't even know who she was until Bella showed up in New Harmony. But now that I think about it, Ruby was right. "I know that, and I'm focused now. But she's my sister. I had to see her. I'm not explaining myself to you Ruby. If you don't like it, I can find another way to kill Lilith."

She frowned as she took in my threat. "There isn't one…. You're my last chance Sam, and you're blowing it."

"Look, I really am sorry Ruby. But I don't regret it."

"I wouldn't worry about her anymore. She's got her vamp boy toy now. So, we can focus on what's important."

"Yeah. Let's get out of here." I paid the bill and we left the pub.

She waited until we were in the car before she spoke again. "So… are we good?"

I gave her a confused stare. "Are we ever good…?"

"It's been kinda fun…." She smirked, obviously remembering our night together just a few days ago. I frowned at the memory. "Admit it, you liked it…." She reached over and brushed her hand over mine. In a moment of weakness and desperation over Dean Ruby had explained to me that I needed to hone my demon powers, but in order to do that, I had to drink more demon's blood to get the full affects.

She had cut her wrist and offered it to me with a seductive smile on her face. I took it, desperate to find a way to bring Dean back. I knew that what I was doing was wrong, but I couldn't find it in me to care. Afterwards I was lying in the bed, staring up at the ceiling wondering what I had done.

I pulled my hand away from hers and gripped the steering wheel tighter. "No…."

"Play dumb all you want, but I know the truth." She pulled away and laughed at my glare. "You're so cute when you're mad."

I rolled my eyes and clenched my teeth.

"By the way, while you were out making house calls, I found a lead on some bad stuff going down a couple of towns over. Kinda sounds like Lilith is in town. Wanna go check it out?"

"I guess, but…." I winced as I looked back down at her arm.

"Oh, is the last of it wearing off?" She looked concerned.

"Yeah, I found some random demon hiding out in Seattle. It tried to kill me, I tried to exorcise it but…."

"You weren't strong enough, so you had to kill the human it was possessing too."

I looked back to the road, ashamed of admitting my weakness for needing more blood.

Ruby looked at an exit sign with motels on it. "Let's stop there for the night and recharge your batteries. I'm not sure what kind of demons we'll be facing tomorrow, and you need to have your head in the game."

I nodded as I pulled off the nearest exit.

The next morning, I woke up and took a shower, Ruby was gone so I had assumed she went out to scout the area for the demons. When I started brushing my teeth my phone started to ring. Bella's name flashed across the display. She must have programed her number in my phone when I wasn't looking. I contemplated not answering it, but then I remembered my promise to not shut her out anymore.

I answered it before it could go to voice mail. "Hello?"

"Hey Sam." Her answer sounded shocked. Like she had planned on me not answering. "Did you make it to wherever you were going?"

"Yeah, I made it fine. How are you doing?" I walked out of the bathroom and nearly jumped when I noticed Ruby coming in the door.

"They put me in a stupid cast today…." She frowned.

"I'm sorry." I chuckled. "At least you can move around a little on the crutches." Ruby mouthed the word 'Bella' and I nodded.

"I don't want to…." Her voice took on a whining tone.

"You don't want the crutches, or you don't want to move around?" I couldn't resist goading her.

"I don't want the stupid crutches." She grumbled. "So, how are you?"

"I'm fine… I found some demonic activity that I'm gonna go check out." I rolled my eyes when Ruby grimaced at me.

"Oh. Do you need some back up? It sounds dangerous."

"It's fine. I've got someone."

That peaked her curiosity. "Who?"

"You wouldn't know him." I looked to Ruby. "I met him on the road." Ruby snickered quietly.

"You're acting really shady…." Bella spoke up after a few moments of silence.

I choked out a laugh. "Can I not have my own set of hunter friends Bella?"

"Have you seen any sign of Ruby since she was… sent back?" Bella deflected my question with one of her own. "She would've crawled her way out by now."

Ruby looked to me in anticipation of my answer. I really didn't want to lie to Bella again, but I knew that she would blow up about it. But I also knew I had to reply quickly. "No… haven't seen her yet."

"Are you lying to me?" I could practically feel Bella putting the pieces together. "Damnit Sam tell me the truth!"

"I should probably go." I hinted.

"Don't you dare hang up on me. Sam…. Is Ruby back…?"

"Bella… you're making a big deal out of this." I sighed, and Ruby rolled her eyes.

"Sam. You're hanging around with a demon!" She yelled, furious. "Who helped another demon kill our brother!"

"It's not like that!" I growled in frustration.

"Are you sure? Because it seems like it to me."

"She's been helping me."

"SHE'S A DEMON! What in the hell is he helping you do?! End the damn world?!"

"I'm gonna track Lilith down and kill her." I figured if she knew why I was doing this then maybe that would soften the blow.

"Ruby is going to turn on you… Don't you get it Sam? I'm not gonna watch you turn bad…." She hit me with that comment. Reminding me that Dean had confided in us that Dad had told him to kill us if we ever went dark.

"Well there isn't anything you can do about it right now Bella… I'm stopping Lilith… once and for all."

I could hear the venom in her tone when she replied. "Goodbye Sam…."

"Bella… come on…." I sighed before I heard the line disconnect. "Damn it…." I growled.

"I told you she would react that way…." Ruby chuckled as I threw the phone on the bed. "You shouldn't have said anything."

"It doesn't matter. She's going to be in that cast for 6 weeks… that buys me some time. I can work on getting to Lilith…."

Ruby crossed her arms and shrugged. "Fine…. It's your wacked out family… do what you want with it."


	6. Rising

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the delay. Life happens, and I do apologize about that. Thank you so much for the new follows and favorites! I really appreciate it and hope you guys are enjoying the story! There will be some info at the bottom of this chapter about the future of this series, don't worry it's still continuing but I need to explain a few things! Without further ado, please enjoy the title chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the characters represented in this fan-fiction. Though I may have tweaked the story lines just a bit!**

 **Chapter 6: Rising**

 **September 18, 2008**

 **Sioux Falls, SD**

It had been months since I had talked to Bella. I would start to feel guilty about how we ended things and then Ruby would remind me that I'm doing this for her and I was trying to live up to the big brother that she needed. Dean left some big shoes to fill, it seemed like I couldn't fill them as easily as I thought I could.

Against Ruby's better judgement, I paid a visit to Sioux Falls. I wanted to speak to Bobby and to revisit Dean's grave. My phone vibrated against the leather of the passenger side seat of the Impala. I sighed, looking down at my phone seeing three missed calls from Ruby. I frowned, ignoring them.

I walked up to the door, knocking tentatively. The door swung open and the old hunter looked me over, shocked to see me. "Sam…?"

"Hey Bobby." I smiled a little, as if nothing had happened. "Can I come in?"

"Sure…." Bobby looked me over skeptically, not moving. "Where in the sam-hill have you been boy?"

"Just taking cases." I shrugged, hoping that he wouldn't press for more information. "Trying to stay busy."

"Uh-huh…." Bobby nodded. "Well come in, I guess." He frowned as he stepped aside.

I walked in the door, finding the familiar sights and sounds of Bobby's house comforting. "The place hasn't changed much." I commented, looking around. The bookshelves were still slammed with books and the curtains were closed on most of the windows, although some of the light from the outside still peaked through them. The only thing that seemed to change was most of the flat surfaces now had a layer of empty beer bottles on them. "What's with all the beer bottles?"

"It hasn't been easy…." Bobby sighed as he sat down at his desk. "Make yourself at home, you'll do it anyway."

I sat down on a worn, leather couch, looking over at the man that had become an uncle to me. In my own grief I had never thought to consider how much pain it would've caused Bobby to not have Dean in his life. What kind of burden did Bella and I place on Bobby to have Dean buried here? Even though it was far enough from the house to not be visible I could still feel it, like a shadow over the house. The little lone wooden cross that we had placed over Dean's broken body.

At least Bella and I could get away from the presence of the cross, but Bobby was stuck here with it. It didn't seem entirely fair, but I had no other solutions to the problem. One of the ten or so phones that are scattered across the desk and some hanging on the wall started to ring. He picked it up, posing as an FBI agent. I smiled as he chewed out an actual agent. He hung up the phone and looked over at me. "So, how's Bella doing? I'm surprised that she isn't here with you."

"I don't know." I sighed. "I haven't seen her since she left."

Bobby set the glass down, looking at me incredulously. "Seriously?"

"We got into an argument…." I frowned. "It was pretty bad."

"You two have always been close…." Bobby gave me the once over again. "What's goin' on, ya idgit?"

"It's nothin'…." I shrugged defensively.

"Sure, it isn't…." Bobby grumbled.

"Have you talked to her lately?" I shot back at him, dodging the question.

"Yeah, every week or so." It looked like Bobby wanted to argue but he let it go. "She said her boyfriend is being 'neurotic' about her hunting." He used air quotes.

I raised my eyebrow in suspicion. "The vampire? He's probably been paranoid ever since she went after that other vamp and it attacked her."

"I guess…." Bobby shrugged, taking another long drag off his current beer.

"Is she healing well?" I really wanted to call her, but I knew she wouldn't want to hear from me.

"Yeah, she got out of the cast this week." He eyed me out of the corner of his eye. "You would know if you called her."

"Come on Bobby… we both know her life is better without me in it."

"I don't believe that Sam. Something else is going on."

"Just drop it. I don't want to talk about it."

Bobby glared at my sudden outburst. But before he could reply a loud bang echoed through the house and shook the foundation.

"What in the hell…?" Bobby jumped up, his hand going to his riffle. I pulled my gun from my waistband and followed him outside.

The whole back of the junk yard was scorched. It looked more like a war zone than a junk yard. Some of the cars were overturned, some of them burning, some of them crunched beyond recognition. The trees surrounding the back fence had fallen, completely destroyed by the blast.

"It looks like a damn bomb fell on the yard…." Bobby commented as he kept his eyes open for something to move. "What could have caused it?"

"I don't know." I scanned the damage, looking for the one thing in the rubble that actually mattered to me. The damage seemed to be radiating out from a single point, where a lone wooden cross stood. "The grave…." I pointed to it and we both moved closer to it hesitantly.

"Look there!" Bobby's voice ran with alarm as he pointed to the ground in front of the cross. We both saw the movement of one shaking hand coming through the ground. We watched as a second hand clawed through the ruined soil.

Bobby stared, wide eyed at the scene. "What in the hell…?"

The hands pushed out more dirt and more body parts emerged until a body emerged, he turned over onto his back, panting, a small smile on his face.

"D-Dean…?" I stared at the figure, eyes wide with shock, it certainly looked a lot like my brother.

"God…." We heard Dean sigh with relief, groaning a little.

Bobby and I acted fast as we approached Dean, he looked up to see the barrel of two guns staring him down.

"Sam… Bobby…?" Dean's confusion turned to relief as he spotted us.

"What the hell are you?!" Bobby growled as he pointed his gun at Dean's face.

Dean sighed. "Bobby, it's me…."

"My ass!" Bobby threw his gun to the ground and grabbed Dean, landing a solid punch.

"Your name is Robert Steven Singer! You became a hunter after your wife was possessed." Dean's voice went horse as he tried to shout, wincing as he tried to avoid Bobby's punches. "You're about the closest thing I have to a father. Bobby… it's me."

Bobby stopped, glaring at Dean before turning to me. "He's gotta be something…."

"Test me then." Dean's voice was raspy as he gasped for air. He held out his arm palm facing Bobby.

Bobby looked to me and I nodded, pulling out a silver knife and dragging it across Dean's arm. He winces at the pain but there was no other reaction. Then Bobby pulled out a flask full of holy water and poured it down Dean's arm. Again, there was no reaction. "Dean…?" Bobby's eyes grew wider as he started to believe that it really was Dean.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you…." Dean sighed, seeming to finally pass Bobby's judgement.

Bobby broke down as he grabbed Dean for a hug, his body shaking with the emotions he tried to contain. Dean hugged back as well as he could.

I didn't know how or why, but my big brother was laying on the ground right in front of me, alive and breathing. "You're back…." I held out my hand to him.

"Yeah… I think I am…." He grinned.

"It's so good to see you man…." I smiled in awe, pulling him into a hug, tears blurring my vision.

"You too…" Dean replied, hugging me back in a state of disbelief. "It's good to be back. Where's Bella? I can't wait to see her face."

"Bella is in Forks." I gave him the only honest answer I could come up with.

"Visiting Charlie, right?" Dean accepted the answer without question.

"Yeah." I replied, ignoring Bobby's glare.

"Well, let's get on the road and go get her!" Dean patted me on the shoulder, a cloud of dust appearing from the motion. "But first… A shower…."

We both watched as Dean headed to the house, not even registering the damage surrounding us.

"Are you going to tell him the truth?" Bobby glared at me.

"Yeah probably. He's gonna find out anyway." I sighed.

After a shower and change of clothes Dean looked more like his old self.

"Dean…." I sighed. "There's something I gotta tell you about Bella."

Dean's good humor vanished the second I mentioned her name. "Bella…? She's not…."

"She's alive, as far as I know." I assured him quickly.

"Yeah after being mauled by a psycho vampire you mean…." Bobby muttered loudly under his breath.

"Wait, what do you mean, as far as you know?" Dean looked to me, then to Bobby. "And what in the hell do you mean that she was mauled by a vamp?"

"Just calm down Dean." I sighed, not in the mood to get a lecture. "After you died, she went back to Forks. She found a coven of vampires there who are more like Lenore's coven. She said they hunt animals for blood."

"You're kidding, so you just let her go off by herself?" Dean's voice got higher with emotion. He had always been more protective over her than he was with me. But to be honest he was protective over both of us, but I had the advantage of being raised in this life, Bella hadn't.

"She was dead set on it, Dean." Bobby spoke up. "I tried to convince her to stay here but she wouldn't have it."

"One of the vampires had gotten kidnapped by one of their own kind." I added. "She wanted to make sure that the Cullen's had found her."

Dean ran his hand over his face, sighing in agitation. "I'm guessing this is where the 'psycho vamp' came in?"

I nodded. "She went in after it with no back up and got hurt pretty badly. I went to visit her in the hospital. She's lucky that she made it out alive."

"And you just left her there? What in the hell Sam?!" Dean pulled me up and held me against the wall by my shirt.

"I had no choice Dean!" I shouted back. "She didn't want me there, Edward said he would protect her, and I trust him."

"Edward?" Dean backed off then, caught by surprise. "Who in the hell is that?"

Bobby cleared his throat and we both turned to look at him. "That would be the oldest kid of the Cullen's, and Bella's boyfriend."

Dean looked back at me. "You knew all of this and still let her go back there?"

"What did you want me to do Dean?" I sighed. "She's an adult and can make her own decisions."

"Oh, damnit, Bell…." Dean growled as he let me go. He ran his hand through his hair angrily.

"What?" Bobby looked to him curiously.

"What if Bell made a deal for me?" Dean spoke up quietly. "It makes sense. Look at the back yard, it looks like a nuke went off back there. And then there's this." He lifted his shirt over the left side of his body to expose a large red handprint that looked like it had been burned into his shoulder.

"What in the hell?!" Bobby stood, shocked at the mark.

"It was like a demon just yanked me out. Or rode me out." Dean grimaced as he put his shirt back down.

"But why?" Bobby asked quietly.

My mind left the room as I thought back to my and Ruby's conversations about the technicalities of trying to get Dean's soul out of hell. She said it would have to be something very powerful to even get to where Dean was being kept. I bit my lip as I worried about how strong that force would be, and who would have done it.

"Oh man…." Dean sighed as he brought me back to the conversation. "I'm coming Baby…." He raced for the car.

We all turned at the sound of static and saw that the TV had switched on all by itself.

"Did you…?" Bobby's question drifted off as he looked to me. I shook my head, all of us on guard. Bobby turned the TV off and soon after the radio began to blare more static.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked urgently as we looked for signs of an attack.

We winced as a high-pitched sound pierced the air, growing steadily louder, and we all covered our ears.

"I don't know!" Dean shouted, he raced into the kitchen to grab a can of salt. He came back in and started at Bobby's large bay window. But before he could put down a thick layer of salt the window shattered from the outside towards him.

"Get out now!" Bobby motioned for us to move outside. More windows shattered as we made our way out.

We turned back to see that every window was broken and a few of the cars closest to the house had their windows busted as well. The car alarms on some of them were blaring too.

"What in the hell was that?" Bobby turned, looking for the reason for the attack.

"I don't know." Dean looked around as well.

I kept looking for signs of Ruby or whatever pulled Dean out from hell. Whatever was powerful enough to do that could pack a serious punch.

"Do you think Bella is okay?" Dean looked worried as he turned to face me. "We have to go check on her. Whatever brought me back could be targeting all three of us." He pulled out the keys and headed for the Impala.

"Boy, I don't envy you at all…." Bobby snorted, and I frowned at him. "I'll leave that to you then. Say hi to Bella for me." He got in another jab before heading towards the house. "Don't worry about the house, I'll see if I can look into what's going on. I'll call if I find anything."

I nodded as Dean honked the horn for me to get a move on.

"Hey, sweetheart," Dean ran his hands along the dash and steering wheel. "Did you miss me? I've missed you."

I snorted as we took off, four months certainly hadn't affected how Dean handled the car.

"What are we going to do if she did make a deal?" Dean frowned after we got out of South Dakota.

"Bella wouldn't do that Dean." I tried to reassure him quietly.

"How would you know Sam? You haven't been with her for the past four months." Dean grumbled. "That was a real dick head move man." There was silence in the car for a couple of miles **.** "Let's just hope Bella hasn't become a vampy meal…."

I smiled, shaking my head. "The Cullen's are good people Dean."

"People…?" Dean rolled his eyes. "They aren't people anymore Sam. They're blood thirsty savages."

"You haven't met vampires like these." I thought back on the brief time that I had met the Cullen's while they were in the hospital. Most of them stayed clear thanks to the blood used in the building, but Carlisle and Edward remained constantly by Bella's side. Edward had even pretended to sleep so that Bella wouldn't be alone in her hospital room.

To be fair, it wasn't creepy stalkerish behavior if he was protecting Bella from the other vampire that was with the one that tried to kill her. I would've stayed if Ruby hadn't been on me about Bella being a distraction. Besides, I wouldn't have been of any help. Edward said that their kind was different from the type that could be killed with a machete to the neck.

"So, what were you doing around Bobby's if you weren't digging me out of my grave?" Dean broke me out of my thoughts.

I had to tread carefully to avoid suspicion. "Well, once I figured out I couldn't save you, I started hunting down Lilith, trying to get some payback." It wasn't exactly a lie, I just didn't tell him how I went about doing it.

"You know you really left Bobby in a lurch…."

"I know, I should've checked in more often… It was pretty messed up…."

We had pulled up to a red light and Dean was about to say something when he noticed something in the back seat. "Oh yeah, I really feel your pain kid…."

I turned to see one of Ruby's tops stashed hastily in between the seats. My eyes widened in surprise and I reached back to shove them deeper in the cushion. "Anyways, I was checking these demos out of Tennessee, and out of nowhere they took a hard left, booked it up to South Dakota."

We traveled on again in silence for a while.

I looked back over at Dean, trying to see if there was anything different about him now that he was back. I couldn't find anything physically, it was like he was the same old Dean. But mentally? "How are you feeling anyway?"

"I'm starving for one thing." He grumbled as we turned into a gas station.

"No, I mean, do you feel like yourself? Anything strange, or different?"

Dean turned to glare at me, "Or demonic? How many times do I have to prove I'm me?"

"I'm just saying that no demon is going to cut you lose out of the goodness of their hearts." I really wanted to talk to Ruby to get some information out of her, but I guess she would have to wait.

"I know, they've gotta be planning something. I mean for those demons you've been tracking to come up here so suddenly at the same time I happened to pop out of the ground like a daisy? It's too convenient." Dean agreed as we both got out to raid the snack shelves. "Man, I really miss Bella's cooking." He frowns at the poor selection and grabs a few packs of beef jerky. "Is she still living with Charlie?" He switched gears on me.

"As far as I know yeah." I paid for our snacks and we headed back to the car.

"I'm glad she went back to living her normal life. Well, almost normal life. That's a dream for most hunters."

"I know. She's really put down roots there."

"Try calling her back. I just wanna make sure that whatever attacked us at Bobby's hasn't gone after her too. That kid is a walking, talking danger magnet." Dean's voice held concern as he pushed the car to go a little faster.

I tried calling again but she must have sent it straight to voicemail. The ring only lasted for two seconds before the call disconnected. I sighed angrily and shoved the phone back in my pocket. I shook my head at the silent question in Dean's eyes.

"There's still one thing that's bothering me. The night that I bit it. Or… got bit." Dean chuckled at his joke and I rolled my eyes. "How'd you and Bella make it out? I thought Lilith was going to kill you."

I thought back on that night, it still hurt to remember even though Dean was sitting right beside me. I replayed the scene in my head: Bella still sobbing over Dean's broken body as we both turned to look at Lilith. She had taken possession of Ruby's body and glared at us menacingly. "She fired this, like, burning light at me, and… didn't leave a scratch. She tried it on Bella and it did the same thing. It was like we were immune or something." I still didn't quite understand what happened. Ruby tried explaining it to me once, she explained it like we had immunity to demonic powers because of Azazel's blood.

"Immune….?" Dean's face got darker and it looked like he was lost in thought.

"Yeah." I shrugged. "I don't know who was more surprised, her or us. She left pretty fast after that."

"What about Ruby, where is she?"

I turned away from him, deciding to keep Ruby a secret. I could only hope Bella wouldn't rat on me. "Dead. For now."

I nodded. "I wonder what that was that attacked us at Bobby's."

"Who knows," Dean shrugged. "although, they owe Bobby some new windows."

I laughed. "You're one to talk, you owe Bobby some new cars after you blew up half of them in the junk yard."

"Hey, that wasn't me. It was whatever pulled me out." His hand went to his left shoulder reflexively. "I just really hope that Bella is okay…. Why isn't she answering?"

"I'm sure she's just in class or something." I shrugged to keep him from worrying too much.

"I guess." Dean frowned, not really swallowing that lie so easily. "I just can't see her in high school… it's weird right?"

"Well, she aged herself down to fit in. I think she stuck with it because she thought the Cullen's were killing people in town. Turns out it was the psycho vamp."

"How did Bella get herself into that situation…?" Dean wondered aloud.

"Danger magnet." We both said in unison and laughed.

Bella had always been like that. Dad tried to limit her hunting trips because she seemed to attract trouble wherever she went. I wouldn't say she was bad luck or anything. But she would've eventually ended up as bait if Dean and I hadn't put our foot down.

"And you're sure these vamps are legit?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, I had to do a bit of digging but I found the last few places their leader has worked. They keep changing their alias so that they are untraceable."

"Not totally untraceable if you found him." Dean frowned.

"Well, Dr. Cullen seems to be the most outspoken member of the group. The other's keep to themselves mostly. Sticking within their own group. The 'kids' don't make much of a name for themselves in school except for being incredibly bright." I remembered some of Bella's memories from the house and saw all the graduation caps arranged into a frame on the wall. His reasoning for it was that it was an inside joke for how many times they had graduated, and I wondered how high that number might be. "It seems like to me they just want to keep to themselves."

Dean seemed to be lost in thought, sometimes I wish it was like it was with me and Bella and I could hear his thoughts. It had only been a few hours since he got back, and he seemed like there was no change in his demeanor. It was like the last four months hadn't even happened. But I wondered if it was all an act or if he really felt that way.

The ride to Forks was quiet after that. Dean had yanked my iPod cord out of the radio and reprimanded me for it. But after that he didn't turn on the radio like he normally did. When I mentioned something about stopping for food he declined saying he wasn't hungry.

I couldn't explain it, but it looked like he had this haunted look in his eyes that made me believe that he did remember something from his days in Hell.

 **A/N (part 2): So now comes the question and answer portion of the chapter! Right now, my cowriter and I have about 25 chapters for Book three, however I feel like we hit the high points of the supernatural season 4 but may have left out too much with Twilight. We are trying to steer clear of New Moon but will still be keeping the Cullen's in the story line. My main concern is that the book may be too short and would like to know from you guys if you would like more filler chapters that really don't contain much plot or would you rather us keep the chapters mostly plot oriented and steer clear of filler and or fluffy chapters? Please either leave a review on this chapter with your response or PM me if you'd rather be anonymous! I really appreciate your feedback and we'll see you next week hopefully!**


	7. Homecoming

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the late update, I went on vacation last week and realized that I missed two updates for you guys and I'm sorry about that. But now were back and hopefully will go back to our regular update schedule. My cowriter and I have been looking at our chapter summaries and have made a few changes to the story. Nothing too life threatening but just something we were not planning on doing in the first place.**

 **So without further ado, here is the new chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or plot lines represented here, they belong to their respective owners. I've just made little tweaks here and there.**

 **Chapter 7: Homecoming**

 **Forks, Washington**

 **September 21-23, 2008**

 **Bella POV**

I woke up and looked over at the red numbers of my alarm clock flashing. Great, power outage. I guessed I had slept through most of the morning. Thankfully my nightmares from the night before weren't as bad as they normally were. I guess Azazel and Lilith had better things to do then stalk me in my dreams. I picked up my phone to look at the time and saw that I had two missed calls from Sam and one voicemail, I scowled at the notifications. So now he wants to talk to me? I dismissed them, I thought it was high time he got a taste of his own medicine when it came to the silent treatment.

I heard Edward coming in my room, he smiled back at me from the windowsill. "What is that face for?"

I sat up in bed and shrugged. "It's nothing." I smiled, the calls no longer seemed important enough for me to worry about them as I walked over to him and pulled him closer. He wrapped his arms around me and I felt his lips pressed against the top of my head. I liked these small moments that we could share together, in the quiet of my house, where no one could bother us.

"I need a human minute… be back in a sec." I reached up on my toes and kissed his cheek.

'"Okay." He sighed as he released me. "Hurry back."

I couldn't keep a soft smile off my face as I grabbed my bag and a change of clothes and headed for the bathroom. I showered quickly and wrapped my hair in a towel, throwing on some sweat pants and a tank top. When I got back into my room, Edward was sprawled across my bed with a small smile on his face. "Good morning."

"Mornin'." I smiled as I jumped onto the bed and cuddled into his stony embrace.

My phone vibrated again, I looked over to see Sam trying to call me again. I frowned as I ignored it.

"Shouldn't you answer that call? It's from Sam." Edward commented quietly as I let the call go to voicemail.

"No." I tried, and failed, not to sound like a five-year-old. I got up and walked over to the window. "He's being a dick and I don't want to talk to him. He's hanging out with a demon." I glared as I thought of Ruby twisting his head.

"Is she any different than I am?" Edward used his non-threatening, try to diffuse the tension of 'bitchy Bella', voice.

"Vampires didn't kill my family Edward…. Demons did."

"I'm sorry Bella." I heard the bed move and Edward was over to me in a second. His arms wrapping around me protectively.

"It's okay…." I smiled a little as his nose skimmed my neck all the way up to my ear.

"You smell so good after a shower." Edward whispered in my ear.

"That's the idea." I smirked as I turned to face him, our noses touching.

"Is it now?" He reached for my chin and tilted it to press his lips to mine gently. "What would you like to do today?"

"I don't know." I ran my hand up his back and came to rest in the curls at the nape of his neck. I smirked as I watched his Adams apple bob as he gulped. Even now, he still got nervous about pushing the boundaries of our relationship. A scream from outside startled me and I jumped. I turned to see the neighbor's children screaming with delight outside my window. He took a step back, but I took his hand, not wanting him to get far. "Could we go to your house?"

Edward squeezed my hand lightly. "Of course." In a few minutes I was holding onto his back and we were running through the woods towards the Cullen home. Even though it still scared me a little, I couldn't deny the joy that running gave to Edward. It always made him so happy, and in a world where happiness was few and far between I decided to grab every opportunity I could get.

"It's so quiet out here." I smiled as I climbed off his back. "It's nice."

"I'm glad you like it." Edward took my hand and kissed it with a smile on his face.

We went into the house and the smell of fresh paint hit my nose. I saw all the furniture had been moved and covered in white drop cloths. Esme was standing on a ladder dressed in a white smock with her hair tied up with a bandana. In that get-up she reminded me of that poster with the woman flexing her bicep with the saying: 'we can do it!'

"Oh Bella!" She turned and smiled at me, she climbed down the ladder and hugged me lightly.

"Hey Esme. The house is looking great." I looked at the walls.

"Thank you." She smiled. "I've been meaning to repaint for a few years now. I figured now was as good a time as any."

"The blue is nice."

"I thought it would be nice. The room needed some color." Esme replied as she set the paintbrush down. "Do you have any plans today?"

"Not really, kind of a lazy day here I guess." I smiled.

Edward frowned a little. "I didn't know you were doing this today, I wouldn't have come back."

"Well you would know what happened in your own house if you visited more often." I turned to see Carlisle coming in and rolling up his sleeves to get to work. "Bella, nice of you to bring Edward home. I haven't seen him in ages." He smiled.

"Funny…." Edward smirked at his adoptive father. "It has been a few days."

"Oh, leave him be Carlisle… they're in love." Esme swatted her husband on the arm with a paint towel.

"I remember you following Esme like a little lost puppy…." Edward grinned at his creator. "Remember when you couldn't say I do? I believe you said: 'My love, forever'."

Esme smiled fondly at her husband. "You were so cute back then."

"He was." Edward smiled at the memory.

Esme snorted delicately. "Edward was so jealous."

I stifled a giggle as I looked back to Edward. He looked like he would be blushing if he could. "Seriously?"

"Maybe a little." Edward defended his actions with a stern nod.

Esme and Carlisle shared a laugh. "A little?" They both replied in unison.

"Hey Bella!" The back door banged open and Emmett came into the room. He rushed over to me and grabbed me up into a bear hug.

I laughed as the others watched. "Hey Emmett. Um, can you put me down now?"

"Okay, okay…." He sighed as he sat me down.

"The others have gone hunting?" Edward commented, I guess reading Emmett's thoughts.

"Yeah, it was their turn on the schedule."

I laughed a little. "Vampires have hunting schedules?"

"Sure, we do!" Emmett replied as he ruffled my hair. "How's my little hunter?"

"Hey…." I frowned as I swatted at his arm.

"Em…." Edward glared at him with a disapproving look.

Emmett snorted as he brushed off his brother's warning. "Whatever." He smirked.

"I'm fine Emmett." I punched Emmett on the shoulder lightly, with a smile. "I haven't been on a hunt in a long time. Well, at least not your type of hunting."

"I didn't know you hunted." Emmett looked curious.

"A family friend took us a few times when Dad was away." I shrugged.

"Bet you've never killed a bear." Emmett grinned.

"You have me there Em." I smiled. My phone buzzed in my pocket again and I tried not to show my irritation and I shut my phone off. "So…." I tried not to look at the four sets of curious vampire eyes.

"What would you want to do?" Edward covered his surprise with a small smile.

"It doesn't matter to me." I smiled back.

"Well…." Emmett scratched his head. "The game is about to start."

"Sure." I followed him into the living room. I sat down on one of the couches that Esme had uncovered. Edward sat beside me, pulling me close. I cuddled in, feeling content. I closed my eyes thinking that nothing more could've made me happier.

"Carlisle are we expecting company?" I heard Edward ask. I looked up to him to see his gaze turned towards the road.

"What is it?" I asked just before familiar thoughts entered my head, ones that weren't my own. I glared. "Shit…. It's Sam." I guess he had gotten tired of me avoiding him.

"What would your brother be doing here?" Emmett asked as he tensed up for a fight. He had taken my side over my argument with Sam. He swore that if Sam came back into town that he would protect me. I tried to assure him that he didn't need to do that, but he insisted saying something about families shouldn't give up on each other.

"I don't know." I got up and went to the window closest to the door and looked to see the Impala driving down through the six large trees lining the Cullen's driveway. "It's weird." I bit my lip in worry. Maybe I should've listened to Sam's calls and voicemails. Maybe something had gone wrong. A stab of pain went through me as I thought of what may have happened to Dean, or if Ruby had tried to kill Sam. Or worse, could he be possessed by a demon right now and is here to kill me and slaughter the Cullen's.

The Impala came to a stop in front of the house with the passenger side facing the house.

 _This house is wild…._ I heard Sam's thoughts and then saw him in the passenger side. I fought down the hope I could feel building in my chest. There was only one reason that Sam would be in the passenger side. Or maybe my suspicions were correct, and Sam had 'gone dark' as Dad said he would. I scanned his thoughts, not seeing any hint of malice in his thoughts. I looked back to the Cullen's whose expressions ranged from concern to aggravation. "Emmett, I'm gonna need some back up…." I pulled out my pistol and headed for the door. Emmett nodded, he and Edward following close behind me.

I trained my pistol on the passenger side window right at Sam. "Get out… Now!" I yelled, trying to quell the fear I could feel building.

Sam held up his hands and reached for the car door slowly. "Bella… before you freak out, I need you to calm down…."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" I glared as I saw the driver get out, I bit my lip as I recognized the sandy blonde and short hair style. The same hair that I had to wash the blood and gel out of four months ago. He turned to face me his face not registering shock or surprise, almost as if he expected this kind of treatment.

"Would it kill you to pick up a phone kid?" He smirked. "Long time no see. It's really me."

"Doubt it…." I pointed the pistol at Dean, but kept my eyes and thoughts on Sam. "What in the hell are you…?"

"I'm 100% grade A human. I promise kiddo." Dean replied, walking slowly to the hood of the car. He rolled up his sleeve, so I could see the healing wound on his forearm where he had been cut previously. "See? It's really me. I'm here. You've gotta believe me Izzy."

I winced at the nickname. "Christo!" I shouted as I threw the holy water in his face.

Dean stopped in a moment of surprise but didn't show any other reaction to the water. "I'm not a demon either you know. And neither is Sam, although he probably needs a shower more than I do." Dean chuckled as he looked over to my twin.

 _I know it's a lot to take in._ Sam spoke to me through our link. He showed me what happened at Bobby's.

"Dean…." I stepped back in shock, taking in his full appearance, it was like he had never left.

"Hey kiddo." Dean grinned down at me, arms held open wide.

Tears filled my eyes as I dropped my pistol and ran for his arms. I collided with him and was enveloped in the warmth of his embrace after missing it for so long. "You're really back…."

"Yeah kiddo, I made a promise, didn't I?" Dean smiled, hugging me back.

"I never stopped looking for you…." I tried to keep my emotions in check.

"I know… I'm sorry it took me so long Bella."

"You big idiot…." I sniffled.

"Yep." Dean popped the 'p' and ran his hand through my hair. "I'm your idiot."

As if all at once, the pain and suffering I had felt over the past four months came crashing down on me. I had to do something to make sure he never did this again. I pulled back from him and decked my big brother in the nose.

"Oww!" He exclaimed after a short string of curses. "What in the hell? We were having a moment."

"No chick flick moments." I smirked, using his own words against him.

"Ha, ha…." Dean's words came out stuffy as he held his nose gingerly. "But I guess I deserved that."

I turned back to see Edward, Esme and Carlisle frozen in a state of shock. Emmett was the only one who seemed to enjoy me punching my brother. He had a big wide grin spaced across his mouth.

"Can we come in?" Sam finally spoke up.

I looked back at him, glaring, then I looked away. "Sure."

"So, this is the vamp boyfriend's family?" Dean looked to me as we headed towards the house. For their part, the Cullen's had gotten over their initial shock and rearranged their features into a look of surprise.

"Yes, and don't be weird Dean." I looked to Sam, he had told Dean everything. Even about the bastard James.

"Fine, take away my fun." Dean elbowed me playfully. "Sorry for the blood." He looked to them and gestured to his bloody nose. "You can blame her not me." He gave me one of his signature smirks and I rolled my eyes. "You're gonna need to give me some tissues or something. I don't wanna be on the menu."

Edward disappeared into the house for a minute and came back out with a towel.

"Thanks…" Dean looked from me to Edward. "Edward, right?"

"Yes I am. Nice to meet you." Edward smiled politely.

"You too…." Dean smiled, only seeming to be a little on edge.

 _So far so good._ I sighed and then looked to Sam, realizing that he must have heard me because he rolled his eyes.

"Welcome to our home." I heard Esme greet Dean politely. Sam and I followed them into the house.

"Thanks." Dean looked around and then looked to Sam and I. "Okay, what's up with you two? You've been staring daggers at each other since we got here."

"Nothing." I smiled brightly, walking away from my twin.

"Sure…." Dean frowned speculatively. "What's up?"

"What happened for you to be able to escape?" I asked, deflecting his question.

"I have no clue…." Dean shrugged, taking the bait but I could see that he still wanted an answer. The problem was I wasn't ready to face it.

Besides, my head was turning like Sam's with the possibilities of what this could mean. Who or what could have the power to bring Dean back? "You don't remember anything?"

"Just getting ripped apart by those hellhounds, and then waking up 6 feet under." He ran his fingers through his hair and a small cloud of dust flew out, he frowned. "You guys really packed the dirt on there. Why did you guys bury me anyway?"

Sam and I looked at each other. "Bobby fought with us on it. We wanted to find a way to help you."

"We knew you would need a body for when you came back." Sam agreed quietly. "It was easier to bring a soul back to a body as opposed to ashes."

"Which isn't easy to begin with. Iz, you know I gotta ask, because it's the only logical way that I could be standing here right now. Swear to me that you didn't do anything stupid like making a deal for me?" A flash of anger went through Dean as he looked down at me.

I looked down, not wanting to tell him I tried to summon a demon, I looked through Sam's memories as well, seeing that he had tried the same thing. I turned back to Dean. "I didn't." I contemplated telling him the truth, but he would just get mad like he did before, with Sam in the car.

"Are you sure?"

"Dean, I am not lying to you." For once, I was grateful that Edward couldn't read my mind. _Sam if you told him…._

 _You're secret's safe with me._ Sam nodded from behind Dean.

"Good." Dean smiled a little.

"So, you don't remember anything from your time in Hell?" Carlisle's face turned speculative like it did when I first told them about me being a hunter. The only thing that the good doctor thirsted for, in my opinion, was knowledge.

"No. I'm kinda glad about it." Dean shook his head again. "I don't think anyone would want to remember that."

"Yeah." I hugged Dean again. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"I'm glad to be back Iz." I felt his hand rubbing my back in small circles.

I noticed Edward looking at him but when I caught his attention he rearranged his features into a small smile. While the topics turned to lighter topics like the Cullen's asking Dean questions about anything and everything I focused my attention on Sam. He seemed to realize my probing into his thoughts and tried to block me out. But he couldn't get everything by me. I saw small flashes of him and Ruby together and she was teaching him something. Sam glared at me. _Stay out of my head Bella._

 _So, Ruby is out of the pit? It didn't take her long to weasel her way back into a meatsuit…._ I glared back.

 _I'm not gonna argue about this with you Bella so just drop it. Dean is back, can't we just be happy for that?_

 _Like hell I am! Not since he just accused me of making a deal to bring him back! All while you've been doing god knows what with Ruby! What is she teaching you Sam? Because it can't be good!_

"Hello? Earth to Bella?" Dean waved his hand between me and Sam, disrupting our conversation. "Are you in there?"

"Yeah, Dean. I'm sorry. I guess I was just lost in thought." I looked back to my eldest brother with a smile. "How was the trip back in? No surprises?"

They both explained to me what happened when Sam went to Bobby's. I tried to ignore Sam's thoughts about bringing up Ruby.

"So, you guys haven't heard anything weird going on in the area within the last couple of days, have you?" Dean directed his question to the Cullen's.

We all looked to Alice who paused for a minute, eyes glazing over before she refocused back on Dean. "Nothing that I can recall…."

"Alice can see the future." I explained to Dean and Sam. "Why? Has something happened?"

They explained to us about what happened at Bobby's after Dean was resurrected. The Cullen's seemed absorbed in every detail, even Rosalie. I guessed their only supernatural conversations happened with vampires. Carlisle would ask a question every now and then, but the rest stayed mostly silent.

Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, answering it quickly and putting it on speaker phone. "Bobby?"

Bobby's gruff reply came through the phone. "Hey Sam. I found someone that can help with what happened with Dean."

"Really?" His eyes lit up and we both looked to Dean.

"Yeah, she's a friend of mine. Pamela Barnes. She's a psychic. Best damn one in the state. I can send you her contact info and meet you there."

"Sounds great. Thanks Bobby." Sam replied before he hung up the phone.

Dean slapped his thigh and stood up. "Great, let's go."

I felt the hope building in my chest deflate a little. "But you just got here…

"We gotta try and figure this out Bell. I don't want this thing to come after you or your friends here." Dean looked away from me and to the Cullen's. "It's safer."

"Dean…." I started to whine.

"I know, I know. I promise that we'll come back here when were done with her. Now that I'm back I won't leave you behind. I promise." He pulled me into a hug.

I nodded, hugging him back. "I'll hold you to that promise."

"I know you will." Dean smirked.

A week went by and still no word back from Sam or Dean about how things went with the psychic. I contemplated calling and blessing them out for leaving me behind again but every time I would start dialing their number I thought back to Dean's face as he promised to come back and I couldn't deny the fact that his words were true. So, I mostly just paced back and forth, worrying. I barely had any nails on my right hand at this point for biting at them in worry.

Charlie for the most part kept his opinions to himself. He knew once he got over the initial shock of seeing Dean back from the dead that he was out of his depth. Edward was gone so that left him to watch me pace. I heard the Impala drive up and I walked out to meet them.

Dean smirked when he saw me. "Hey."

"You were coming right back huh?" I challenged him with a frown.

"We ran into some issues." He sighed. "I'll tell you about it inside."

When we went inside Charlie came in from the kitchen. We went into the living room, Charlie went to his favorite arm chair and I sat beside Dean on the worn couch. Sam leaned against the doorframe.

Dean sat down and sighed. "We found out what brought me back. An angel."

My eyes went wide at the word. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, believe it or not." Dean laughed humorlessly and rubbed at the side of his head.

"He's leaving out one important detail…." Sam added and then showed me what happened with Pamela in his thoughts. It was my brothers, Bobby, and a woman who I assumed was Pamela sitting in a circle with candles sitting everywhere. The furniture began to move as Pamela called out for the force that pulled Dean out to show itself. I gasped as I saw the aftermath.

"He burned her eyes out…?" I forced out the words.

"What in the hell?" Charlie looked shocked.

Dean grimaced. "Yeah…. She's getting prosthetics."

"That poor woman… why would an angel do that?" I asked quietly. I didn't put much stock in angels, I mean we never came across them in our hunts, so I just assumed they were like aliens and that they didn't exist. I only believed in what I could see.

"We held a séance to try and make contact with what brought me back. He was warning her to turn back but she kept pushing. Castiel said it was unintentional. Their forms are too much for human sight I guess." Dean shrugged.

"You met him?" I tried to picture what an angel would look like in my head. "What kind of a name is Castiel?"

"He had to possess someone." Dean replied.

"So, they're no different that demons?" I asked, noticing Sam's irritation and paying no attention to it.

"No, they need permission to enter a vessel. He said the guy prayed for this."

"What else did Castiel say?" Charlie spoke up.

"That 'God has work for me.'" Dean replied using air quotes.

"And by 'work'?" I frowned.

"Hell if I know…." Dean shrugged. "Then these ghosts started showing up. They were people that we didn't save. They tried to kill us. It was pretty bad Bell."

"Like Victor Henrikson, the girl Meg possessed, and Ronald." Sam showed me what happened. "We managed too banish them."

"Only after Victor almost ripped my heart out." Dean added. "It was intense."

"Yeah…." I sat in shock.

"Castiel showed up later and explained that they were apart of the "Rising of the witnesses". One of the 66 seals on Lucifer's cage." Dean spoke up after a few minutes of silence. "Lilith is breaking them. They're like locks on a door; Last one opens, and Lucifer is free…."

Lucifer, that name sent a chill down my spine. "Okay… this is getting a little out of hand…. I mean angels… and Lucifer? Like the devil?"

"He's real too, apparently." Dean sighed.

Charlie stood up. "Okay, I'm out." He walked to his jacket and put it on, leaving for work.

"Wow… and I thought demons would be the worst thing…." I frowned, looking to Sam.

"Apparently something big is going down." Sam replied self-righteously, showing me that his work with Ruby is helping him rather than harm.

I glared, turning my attention back to Dean. "Well, we gotta stop the devil. Which means we have to find Lilith and stop her from breaking the seals? How do we even know what the seals are?"

"Bobby is looking now." Dean replied.

"Okay, have you had anymore contact with this Castiel guy?"

"Not yet." Dean took a sip of beer. "But he said: 'We'll call on you when we need you'." Pitching his voice down and squinting his eyes in what I assumed was him imitating Castiel's voice.

"Okay." I looked to Sam. "And why weren't you with Dean when he met Castiel?" I noticed him blocking me again.

"I went on a food run." Sam answered aloud. _Don't do this Bella… Don't start a fight._

 _Fine… I won't say anything._ I frowned, not happy about keeping Dean in the dark.

"Where's Edward?" Dean asked.

"He's out hunting with his brother's this weekend." I guessed he would need a full report, nosy little brat. "So, Bobby is looking into the seals… what are we going to do if all of them are broken?"

"I don't know. We can't let Lucifer walk the Earth… it's already screwed up as it is. He'd burn the entire world." Dean's green eyes turned speculative as he imagined the possibilities.

"Tell me what I can do to help." I smiled in reassurance, hoping that I could be useful.

"We don't know yet. After what happened with Pamela and meeting this Castiel in person… I don't really know what to do."

I moved closer to him and hugged him tightly. "We'll figure it out. Don't worry.

"We always do." Dean smiled.

I looked to Sam with a snide smirk. "So, she called you 'Grumpy' huh? Good observation."

Dean snorted out a laugh.

"I feel bad… her eyes were burned out of her head." Sam winced, bringing the image back in his mind.

"We should go check on her." I too was concerned for the woman. She seemed like a nice person.

"We did right before we left to come here." Sam showed me him and Dean checking on the woman in the hospital. Wincing when I saw her eyes bandaged up. But at least she seemed content with the outcome, at least she was alive.

"Besides, I just got back, and I think I'm due a little R&R." Dean yawned as he laid down on the couch. "Don't you think so Bella? I'm exhausted, wake me up in a couple of hours." I watched as he fell asleep in minutes.

"I wish I could fall asleep that fast…." Sam smirked as he looked to me.

I crossed my arms and frowned. "You still haven't said anything…."

Sam grimaced and headed into the kitchen. "Don't start this again Bella. I'm not in the mood."

I followed him. "Lilith is trying to give Lucifer a 'get out of jail free' card… what makes you think Ruby isn't working with her?" I whispered furiously to him.

"Because I trust Ruby."

"More than you trust your own flesh and blood?" I spit back with as much acid as I could. "Good call Sam."

Sam sighed angrily. "I didn't mean it like that Bella and you know it."

"Sure, you didn't. Are you still seeing her?" I moved to stand in front of him and saw the look on his face that he couldn't put his thoughts into words. "You are, aren't you?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Sam's face was defiant and left no room for argument.

"Whatever. But don't you dare let her come before us." I could barely contain my anger. "She's a demon. She'll turn on you." I pushed past him and stopped at the doorway. "I just hope I'm there to say I told you so. I'm going to bed." I said after I put a blanket over Dean. "You can sleep in the chair."

Then I left my twin in the kitchen, effectively cutting off our communication via our link.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey guys, worst author ever here! I am so sorry for the delay. I have had a lot of personal things that have unfortunately made my writing have to take a back seat but hopefully now I can spend more time writing new chapters for you guys to enjoy!**

 **Please read and review, I love reading your comments and suggestions! It really helps me through writers block!**

 **As always, I own none of the characters represented.**

 **Chapter 8: Memories**

 **(Forks, WA September 26, 2008)**

 **Edward POV**

As I made my way to Charlie's house I thought about the events from the past couple of days. Bella's brothers showing up after all this time was defiantly surprising. Sam was the same as he was when I met him after Bella's leg was broken. Maybe a little more guarded, but I knew how to keep from intruding on his thoughts. Besides, I was more interested in the eldest Winchester sibling, Dean.

From what I could see he defiantly was a warrior who had seen much in his young life. But he was also kind and caring when it came to his siblings. He would laugh at something Bella had said one minute and then his face would turn grim as he explained a hunt to my family. From the short time I had known him, he seemed to share certain qualities with Emmett, just maybe not so carefree. The Winchester brothers were just as much of an enigma than their younger sister, just another puzzle for me to unravel. I hoped I could get more answers by spending more time with them.

When I made it to the house Charlie was the only one there. I could hear him sleeping in his room. I frowned, looking at the time. Where in the world could they be this late at night? I took a seat on the porch and waited for them to return.

A few hours later I saw the lights from the Impala turning the corner and I didn't move until the car pulled into the driveway. I could see Dean's reasoning for keeping this car. The roar of the engine is undeniable as it rumbled down the street. From what I could hear, and Rosalie's teachings, it sounded like a 502 cubic-inch big-block V8 engine. I'm sure my sister would love to get her hands on it, but she was too prideful to ask Dean if she could tune it up. The glossy blank paint job made it almost disappear in the night blending into its surroundings. All in all, it was the muscle car of any teenage boy's dream.

The brother's got out first and I saw Sam bending over to let Bella out of the back seat. I looked them over quickly, noticing that other than looking exhausted seemed fine. But when Bella got out I could smell blood from open wounds and saw several small cuts and bruises on her face.

"Bella?!" I asked in alarm as I rushed over to her. Of course, if it was a one and three chance that anyone would get hurt it would be her….

"Hey." She grimaced, as if expecting this reaction from me. I caught the motion of her trying to pull her shirtsleeve down, so I couldn't see whatever it was she was trying to hide from me. They had only been gone for a day and a half at the most according to Dean's thoughts.

"Cue the freak out…." He smirked, thinking back over the events. My worry over her injuries pushed me to not bother with trying to get a full grasp on the events from Dean. I could hear his thoughts clearer than the twins but it was still murky compared to normal human's and vampire's thoughts.

"Shut up…." Bella glared at him before returning her attention to me.

"What happened?" I asked soft, touching her cheek and trying to reign in my panic. She was at least here with me now, that's all that mattered, I tried remining myself.

"The hunt went a little sideways, that's all." She closed her eyes and reached up to press my hand closer to her cheek. "That feels nice." She smiled.

I tried to keep my thoughts in check as I helped her inside with the brothers following us.

"I call shower first!" Dean called, already taking his jacket and shirt off, running up the stairs.

Bella smirked at him, nudging me a little. "Let's go to my room."

"Of course, let me get the first aid kit first." I kissed her on the nose, the only place that didn't seem to be cut or bruised. She blushed a little and nodded, heading up the stairs.

Sam shook his head and pulled out his computer. He seemed more withdrawn than usual, I wondered if something else had happened on the hunt that would have put more of a strain on their relationship. I new they were both happy that Dean was back, but the demon that Sam had been working with was something that they just couldn't compromise on. Bella couldn't push past the fact that she was a demon and Sam couldn't get his sister to accept that not all demons have to be the enemy. I sighed, wanting more than anything for them to reconcile their differences.

I grabbed the first aid kit from the kitchen and headed for her room.

She frowned when I came in, a little disgruntled pout on her face almost looking comical despite the situation. "I don't know why you're doing this… Dean already patched me up."

"Where are you hurt?" I asked in a calming voice ignoring her protests. If I had learned anything I knew I had to be just as stubborn as she was sometimes to make sure she wasn't injured. This hadn't been the first time she had come home hurt but I could bet on the fact that it wouldn't be the last.

"It doesn't hurt…." She shrugged and winced at the motion. I prodded at her shoulder and she bit out a short curse. "Much…." She amended.

I tilted her chin up to look me in the eye, smirking slightly. "Swallow your pride and tell me love."

"Fine…" She sighed" I got shot, and I have a big cut on my stomach. That's the worst of it other than a few cuts and scrapes."

I couldn't keep a low growl from crossing my lips as I thought of anyone who would try to hurt Bella. I tried to keep my emotions and thoughts to the present. Bella needed my help right now and it wouldn't do her any good for me to be angry. "Let me see."

She sighed once more in what I guessed was aggravation and started to pull her shirt off wincing when it pulled at the muscles of her shoulder. I ended up helping her get out of her shirt, showing the worst of the bruising. My eyes widened in surprise, firstly due to the amount of bruising covering her pale skin and secondly realizing that this was the most of her skin that I had seen since we met. It didn't take but about a half second for me to regain composure and focus on the task at hand.

Bella snorted, apparently having seen my reaction. "Oh, come on Edward, don't be a shrinking violet now." Her voice held a teasing edge to it as she smirked up at me.

"I have no idea what you are talking about…." I frowned to keep any other emotion off my face and carefully looked over her stomach wound first.

"Okay… whatever…." She smiled slightly, wincing when I uncovered the bloody gauze.

Though the stiches were not up to Carlisle's standards they looked neat and precise. The cut didn't look too deep and scarring would be minimal. "The stitches look fine."

"I told you." She grumbled quietly.

I smirked to myself at her reaction as I recovered the wound in fresh gauze. While my hands were busy I let my eyes roam over her bare skin seeing the other faded scars scattered across it, including the one inflicted by the knife in Cold Oak. I remembered her telling me about how she got it, but I never asked to see it and she never offered to show it to me. As I looked at it now it seemed to be just an ordinary faded pink line along her ribcage, but I knew it held more pain and torture than I would ever know within it. After the gauze was fastened in place I moved to the bullet wound.

She took a deep breath and held it while biting her lower lip. "Is it deep?

"It could have been worse." I remembered Carlisle's memories of gunshot wounds and compared to them this was little more than a grazing. "Is the bullet out?"

"Dean dug it out earlier, with his knife." She grimaced as I began cleaning the wound.

Carlisle was a doctor and had seen many wilderness survival enthusiasts getting hurt while out in the wild and tried these tactics on themselves and ending up with a lost limb by the time they got to the hospital. "I'm sure that was sanitary…." I knew it was a mistake to say that as soon as the last word left my mouth, I couldn't stop myself.

"He's not stupid; he used tweezers and sterilized it." She replied quietly.

"I'm sorry Bella, I didn't mean to suggest that he didn't." I replied just as softly, feeling the slight flush of her skin, feeling as if she had a low-grade fever from the wounds. "I should go with you next time. I can keep you from getting hurt." I asked her once again to let me accompany her on hunts.

I looked to her just in time to see her grimacing. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"I can protect you." I held my ground defensively.

"I know you will." She deflected my question with a wince as I prodded further into the bullet wound. I wanted to make sure no shrapnel was left in the wound for it to get infected.

"I'll be gentle." I promised. "Don't worry." She didn't look at me but nodded as she tried not to let the pain get to her. "It doesn't look too deep." I tried to smile as I started stitching it up then cleaning the area before putting gauze over it and covering it securely.

She breathed a sigh of relief when I was done, hitting me with a dose of her scent, the burn becoming more like an old friend and a reminder that she was still alive rather than a siren call. "Thank you."

"You've been a good patient." I smirked, looking to the wounds on her face. "Now for your forehead."

"Are you almost done Dr. Cullen?" She smirked. "How much is this house call going to cost me?"

I smiled at her cheekiness, used to the familiar banter. "Now I'm done."

"Good." She smiled. "Can you hand me my pajamas? I'm getting tired."

"Of course." I handed them too her and made a note to bring her antibiotics for the fever. Hopefully Carlisle wouldn't mind if I raided the hospital.

We both turned to the sound of the water cutting off and the door to the bathroom opening. "Bella!" I turned to see Dean coming out in a cloud of steam with a towel wrapped around his waist. "I had to use some of your girly shampoo… hope you don't mind." He ran his hand through his wet hair and shook it out.

"Okay, no problem." Bella replied.

Dean reached the door and saw the two of us in her room with Bella pulling her shirt over her head, pajama bottoms already on. "Come on…. What the hell man…?"

"Oh, calm down. I'm not 13 anymore Dean…. He just wanted to check the gashes over. It's not creepy." Bella pushed past me and stood between us, rolling her eyes. "And the door was open… perv."

"I would never do anything inappropriate Dean." I assured her brother, rearranging my features into a serious look.

He looked me over with narrowed eyes before turning back to Bella. "Okay, okay. I trust _you_ Bella." He walked back out and down the stairs.

Bella turned back to me with a sly smirk on her face and leaned in to whisper. "Good thing he does, I owe him some payback."

I chuckled as I pulled her close, giving her a chaste kiss on the lips. "Do you need Tylenol?"

Bella shook her head as she wrapped her fingers around mine. "Nah, I'm good. Just stay with me okay?"

"Of course, I will." I squeezed her hands gently and helped her get into bed. I went back to cut the lights off before returning to cuddle against her.

"I really missed you." I heard her whisper into the darkness.

"I missed you too." I whispered back, pulling her back to expose her neck. I would have never thought that I could have had a relationship like this with another human even as late as a year ago. Scents and sounds that used to drive me wild with thirst now confirmed my belief that Bella had returned to me safe and sound. Nothing else in the world mattered to me just as long as she was safe and by my side. I would take whatever pain and heartache that the world had in store for me just as long as I got to keep her by my side.

She closed her eyes and snuggled into me with a small smile. I held her as close as I dared, savoring each moment we got to spend together. In the middle of the calm and peacefulness of the night Victoria's words came back to me. I tried to shake them away, not wanting to ruin the bliss of the moment. I decided that I would act as if the conversation had never happened. I felt confident in Bella's ability to protect herself and if it came down to it, I would be there to back her up no matter what the consequences. A nagging voice in the back of my head begged me to think of the consequences of staying with a human mate, I winced at the possibilities my mind conjured. Human life spans were short compared to ours anyway, and human hunters were even shorter, with Dean being the exception.

There was something bothering me about the eldest Winchester sibling. From what I could see in his thoughts he did remember his time down in hell. I couldn't sort out much but from what I could see he was in excruciating agony. So why lie and tell them he remembers nothing? I knew it wasn't my place to tell his private thoughts, but he couldn't cope with what had happened by himself. I frowned to myself, maybe I should talk to him. At least then I could understand his reasoning for not wanting to tell them.

Bella's heartrate slowed, and I knew she was in a deep sleep and I could move freely. Sitting in one position for too long seemed to stiffen up my body, I needed to keep myself moving. I pulled my arm from underneath her pillow and kissed her forehead gently. I wandered downstairs to try and satisfy my curiosity about the Winchester brothers.

The brothers were cramped in Charlie's living room, Sam was taking up the reclining chair and Dean was sprawled across the couch, face twisted in pain. I listened to his accelerating heart beat and realized the signs of a nightmare, having seen Bella go through them many nights. Just like before, I could only get glimpses and make inferences about the true meaning of his nightmares, but I could tell there was a lot of pain and darkness.

As I got closer I could see more of Bella's features reflected in her brother's face. The shape of their noses, the little quirk of their mouth when the were asleep, hair colors, all of it was the same. Even their eye color was the same, as I got closer I saw Bella's green eyes reflected back at me with emotions ranging from fear to surprise to finally anger.

Dean snapped out of his shock and without hesitation pulled out his gun and trained it on my chest. "What in the hell?!" He growled.

So, it would seem they all have the same reaction to being woken up like this… I held my hands up defensively and backed away slowly.

"What were you doing?" He sighed angrily, pulse still racing from the adrenaline.

"I saw you were having a nightmare." I explained quietly, not wanting to disturb Sam. "Are you Alright?"

"No, you almost gave me a heart attack man…." He got up and went into the kitchen. "I really don't wanna die again." He stretched, apparently stiff from sleep. I could hear his muddled inner monologue, still reeling from the latest nightmare.

I followed him to see him reaching into a cabinet for a glass, pouring himself a glass of water from the sink. "Would you like to talk about it?" I offered, thinking maybe he needed to tell someone what had happened.

He deflected my offer with a snort and an eye roll. "No thanks. I don't need the 'Dr. Phil of the vamp world' digging around in my head.

"Then why did you lie to them? You never told them you remember."

"And that's how it's going to stay." He pointed at me with a grimace, thoughts turning towards memories of Hell with a shudder.

"They deserve to know." I remained determined to figure out how his mind worked.

Dean set the glass down with an exasperated sigh. "Why, so Bella can have worse nightmares? I'm not putting that on her. She's been through enough, so has Sam." He pushed past me with a frown. "Just drop it okay?

"If you think that's best." I sighed in defeat, knowing when to push for more information and when to hold off.

"I know it is." Dean held onto his point definitively. "I've been protecting them my whole life. That was always my job and I intend on keeping it, so don't you dare tell them."

I thought of the many conversations about my gift with my family and how much it irritated them that I could hear their every thought. I figured I could extend the same courtesy to Dean. "Your secrets are your own. It isn't my place to tell them."

"Good." He huffed as he sat back down on the couch. "Now about you and my sister…. You hurt her, you answer to me and my machete." He smirked with a wicked glint. Showing me the many times he had taken out vampires with the long blade.

"I see you've got some skill." I smiled, matching his calm demeanor. "It won't work on my skin though."

He grimaced, seeing that I was one step ahead of him. "Shut up. I'll use fire then." He grinned as he flopped back down on the couch, grabbing the blanket off of it. "I'll light up your sparky ass."

I smirked at his words. "Understood."

"Good." His reply was slightly satisfied. "Now that we've got that settled, let me go back to sleep."

"Of course." I nodded more to myself than anything. I headed back for the stairs and turned at the sound of his voice again.

"Where are you going?" I saw suspicion in his eyes at being caught.

"Just to say goodnight." I lied smoothly, knowing that he would be passed out again before I could even get to Bella's door.

He frowned at me, crossing his arms in disapproval. "At 2am?"

I smiled, sighing in defeat for his benefit. "Maybe I should just get going…." I headed for the door. "Goodnight Dean."

I had every intention of waiting for him to go back to sleep and then climbing up the tree to Bella's second story window when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I looked down at the message and it was from Alice. "Can you meet me at home?" I sent her a quick reply back and rushed back to my home.

Alice had been gone for almost two weeks, the longest she had ever been away from us. She also went by herself, much to Jasper's irritation and anger. But she had assured him that there was no reason for him to be concerned for her. At least that's what I thought from reading the note she left for him. Ever since she had been rescued from James' lair we had worried that she had been traumatized by the whole incident. For the most part she had gotten back into a normal routine but almost seemed disconnected from the world happening around her. It was only after Bella came back that a little bit more of the old Alice came back out and I think they both helped each other get over what had happened to them because of James.

In her letter she had told us that she had to check something connected to her past. Alice was unique in that her earliest memories is of her waking up as one of us. She has no recollection of her human memories. After Bella telling us that James had known Alice back when she was human, as well as the memories Bella helped her to recover she had been curious as to what kind of life she lived prior to her transformation. Jasper was against the idea from the beginning, but he couldn't dissuade her from it.

When the house came into view I saw my sister standing underneath the last tree shading the driveway, waiting for me. I looked her over, finding no changes to her physical being. She was dressed in a long dark trench coat, jeans that were frayed at the bottoms, and dark chucks poking out from the bottom. She was just pulling off some elbow-length black gloves when I got close enough to her, having just gotten to the house herself.

"Welcome back." My smile faltered when I heard her reciting the Lord's prayer repeatedly in Latin. Tipping off that she wanted to keep me out of her thoughts. "We've missed you."

"I missed you to." Her normally exuberant voice seemed off as she wrapped her small delicate arms around my torso.

"So, you went back to the place you were born?" I saw through the translation that she had visited a very stately looking home.

"Stop." She abruptly stopped thinking of anything at all to shut me out. "I want to tell everyone in person by myself. It's not the best of stories…."

I nodded, sensing my sister's need for privacy, or at least as much as I could provide for her. We headed for the stairs and went into the house. I heard my family in the house going about their own private activities. Carlisle was studying in his office, Esme was in her library painting, Jasper was in his room watching a game with Emmett and Rosalie was taking apart some piece off Jasper's motorcycle to clean. They all stopped when they smelled Alice's scent.

"Hey everyone." Alice sat own her pink suitcase that was almost bigger than her and pulled the wide brimmed hat from her head. I was helping her take her coat off when Jasper seemed to materialize out of no where and wrap his arms around her protectively, not saying a word.

Esme was the second to come down and greet us. "Hello sweetheart. How was your trip?"

"Very… enlightening." Alice commented back while her bottom lip was trapped in between her teeth. "Can we all meet in the dining room?"

We all went into the dining room to let Alice and Jasper have a more private reunion. In the foyer.

"You scared the hell outta me darlin'." Jasper finally spoke quietly, I could feel the relief coming off him in waves.

"I know. I'm sorry. But I had to do this on my own." She kissed his cheek.

I could feel the secondary effects of Jasper's gift and could tell that my sister was very deeply affected by whatever it was she found out. Sadness was rolling off her in waves, hitting Jasper at full force.

They joined us moments later and Alice took the head position while Jasper and I flanked her on either side, I tried not to remember the last time we were all gathered in this place together, but it was hard considering that Rosalie was sitting on the opposite side of the large oak table, as far from me as she could get. I tried to keep my focus on my sister, she didn't need for me to start another argument right now.

"Tell us what happened." Jasper asked in a quiet voice as if he was talking to a small child.

She sighed, pulling a crossbody bag from around her neck and sat it on the table with a quiet thump. "I wanted to do some research on my human life. After hearing what James had to say about me I was curious." She frowned, recalling the time during which she had been kidnaped to force Bella into making a move. I winced at both Alice's memories and my own. "I used to live in Biloxi, Mississippi. Turns out my first name isn't Alice. I was born Mary Alice Brandon. I… I guess I had forgotten my own name."

Esme's compassion compelled her to reach over me and take Alice by the hand, her heart breaking for her child. Alice smiled a little at the action and squeezed her hand before letting it go to continue.

"I got along better with my mother than I did with my father I imagine. I found my admission file from the asylum. And I found my grave, the death date and the date of my admission are the same." She pulled out the stacks of yellowed documents from the bag she had been carrying.

Rosalie gasped in shock. "They faked your own death?"

Alice nodded quietly. "Humans who were considered different or abnormal were hidden away at the time, not helped…."

Jasper growled under his breath angrily, thinking about how cruel humans were while wrapping an arm around her shoulders protectively.

"It's okay Jazz. It's not the worst of it… I looked through the papers on microfiche and found this story." She pulled out another set of documents and it was from an old newspaper with a photo of a man being arrested with the headline: 'Brandon charged with more than a dozen counts of homicide'. "I was turned in 1920 and this article is from 1924…. My father had been arrested for murder." We were all stunned into silence by Alice's words. "He had a history of abusing women but had enough money to pay them off and to keep everything quiet. But he eventually confessed to everything. I had my gift as a human. When I was young it started out as little things like the weather. But when I was older I started seeing things…. Apparently, I predicted my cousin's death and when it happened my aunt and uncle said I had cursed their son." She looked down, hearing Jasper's growl build in his throat. "M-my father paid someone to kill my mother… I saw her die and tried to warn her. Unlike everyone else, my mother believed me and was careful for a while until the one night she forgot. She was ran off the road in a car accident…." Her voice broke off in a sob, unable to continue for a minute while Jasper held her protectively and muttering quietly to her. "It was all my fault… I couldn't save her."

We all passed the news clipping around as well as the admission records from the asylum. Carlisle's thoughts were still trying to understand why a father would do that to their child. Esme's heart broke for Alice and finally gave up on trying to read more of the story. Rosalie sat in stunned silence as she life to what Alice had been through, feeling guilty for how she had behaved in the past towards Alice. Not that they had ever gotten into arguments or anything, but she always envied Alice that she didn't have any memories to tie her down in the afterlife and was somewhat spiteful about it. But now she couldn't look her sister in the eye and never moved her gaze from the table. Emmett was contemplating how the events would have been changed if he had been there to kill her father for even considering taking Alice's mother away from her.

Alice once again found her voice after a lot of encouragement from all of us and continued. "My father remarried four months after that and she was just as vile as he was. A short while after I had apparently had a vision of my father paying some man to kill me." Her voice broke again, barely holding it together. Esme's eyes went wide with horror and a furious growl tore through Jasper's throat. "I tried to run away but my stepmother locked me in my room. I confronted my father about it and he had them bring me to the asylum…. They shaved my head during a typhoid outbreak and I had electroshock therapy. The doctors didn't care if you were crazy or not." She frowned, and I could see scattered remains of memories that had begun to resurface in her mind, the scene was tilted so that it looked like the person was strapped down and I could feel the weak echoes of pain radiating through the memories. "The only person who was kind to me was the custodian. He was the one who ended up turning me…. I found his journal." She pulled out a weather worn leather bound book and flipped through the pages. "His name was Joseph, it was written in Latin. He wrote about bringing me things hidden in his hands to test my gift. I always got it right." She smiled a little at the thought but couldn't bring up a memory of the event happening. The only thing that she could remember was the one memory Bella was able to recover for her of the exact moment she was turned which was a few moments before Joseph's death. "You all know the rest."

She left the room in a flash, leaving us all shocked and we heard the door slam to her and Jasper's room. Rosalie leaned into Emmett, a quiet sadness hung over her as she stared at the papers scattered across the desk. Carlisle looked at the admission records in a quiet fury and wished he could have been there to spare her from the fate of these horrible doctors.

Jasper and I walked up the stairs at a human's pace due to the weight of Alice's words. I knocked on her door quietly but heard no response from the other side. Jasper touched the door, feeling an overwhelming desire to help his hurting mate but had no idea how to fix something that happened nearly 90 years ago. He knew that she was in pain right now but there was no way to stop it.

As well as my own grief I shared Jasper's pain of feeling utterly powerless to do anything for his mate. We were more alike now than we had ever been. I sighed as I tried knocking one more time. "May we come in Alice?"

I heard no verbal reply, but her thoughts reached me. _I guess_ I nodded to Jasper and we headed into the dark room. Alice was sitting on the bed curled up into a tight ball, she was shaking from the sobs she was trying to keep quiet. I kept my distance as Jasper rushed over to her side, knowing that I wasn't the person she needed to see right now.

"Hey…." He whispered quietly. "It's alright now darlin' I'm here now." He picked her up and she cuddled into his chest, seeking comfort.

"I didn't want it to be real Jazz… how could they do that? I was their child…." She looked down at her hands that were still shaking. "I didn't mean anything to them." Her voice took on a hollow, emotionless tone as if she was having another vision.

Jasper shook his head bitterly, his words coming out biting. "If I had known I would have rescued you."

"I know. You shouldn't feel guilty." She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You shouldn't feel guilty either Alice." I didn't need Jasper's ability to feel the guilt that she had been carrying since Biloxi. "Neither your mother's nor Joseph's deaths were your fault."

"I was better off not knowing. I wish I had listened to you and Carlisle." She sighed, thoughts full of remorse.

"You were missing part of yourself." Jasper reminded her quietly. It was hard for Jasper to accept but he battled against his will to comfort his mate using his gift. Knowing that she had to process her own pain in her own way.

Alice had gone still, mulling over everything she had uncovered.

"I wish Bella had left you alone…." Jasper knew that his words would start something with me, but it was the only thing he could do in his current situation.

"It isn't Bella's fault… I wanted to help her. She didn't force me to do anything." "I decided to find out on my own."

Jasper nodded, still not convinced that my mate still didn't aid in my sister's misfortune.

"It still doesn't feel real… its like a story." Alice's eyes are still wide, body still in panic mode.

I sighed, "Maybe we should treat it as such… just a story." I put my hand on her shoulder. "You are still the same Alice we all know and love. We've all had our horrors. Just don't let it define you."

Alice nodded and smiled. "Thank you…."


	9. Dad's Warning

A/N: Sorry its been so long guys. Life has seemed to get in the way and I haven't had much time to write. This chapter was taken more from one of the Supernatural episodes so it took a little more time to research it and make sure everything was perfect for you guys! It's also a little longer than most chapters so that's a bonus right?

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Twilight.

Chapter 9: Dad's Warning

(Forks, WA October 1, 2008)

 **Dean POV**

I stood by the window, checking every car that went down the road. I was hoping to spot a silver Volvo drive down the street. I sighed, turning back to see Sam completely unbothered by the fact that our baby sister wasn't at home like she's supposed to be. "What time did Bella say that vamp was bringing her home?"

"7 o'clock." Sam replied promptly without looking away from his computer.

I looked up at the clock and frowned. "He's late…." I sighed angrily.

Sam barely glanced up at the clock then went back to his work. "By two minutes."

"Still, I thought he was punctual." Isn't that what Bella told me? He was a perfect gentleman, always came to get her on time and always bringing her home on time.

Sam snorted. "Punctual?"

I ignored him, knowing full well he knew what I meant. "He'd better be here soon."

"Bella knows how to take care of herself. She's fine." Sam rolled his eyes.

I trusted Bella. I knew she was more that capable of taking care of herself. I mean we trained her to be a hunter, so she could easily kill one lone vamp on her own. But I still worried about the unknowns. What if he catches her off guard? What if he get's her knife away from her? What if during the dinner he just leaves her in Seattle, sticking her with the tab and no way home?

It was enough to drive anyone insane….

"You realize that you sound just like Dad right?" Sam asked in an amused tone, enjoying seeing me a total wreck. "Overprotective and grumpy."

"Shut up." I threatened with a growl as I sat back down on the couch. Dad was always a touchy subject, even if he meant it as a joke. Sure, Dad did the best he could with raising two boys and then adding a teenage girl on top of it. But he wasn't the best parent around. I remembered one time when Sam came in late and I thought Dad would never let him hear the end of it. I heard Sam trying to hide his fits of laughter with a cough, I looked over to see him smirking behind his computer screen.

A few minutes later, the door opened up and Bella came in with the vampire following a short distance behind her. "Sorry we're late, my food came later than expected."

Such a normal response, I'm sure it happens all the time, right? But seeing the look on the vamp's face gave me an unnatural feeling. It triggered my hunting instincts telling me something was wrong with him. He must have noticed my stare because he tried to rearrange his features into a some what forced smile.

"It was the server's fault. She put in the order incorrectly." His voice came out slightly irritated.

"It's fine." Bella shrugged it off, seemingly unafraid by his response. "it happens. I'm sure she was dazzled by you." She snorted as she laughed, putting up her coat.

I raised my eyebrows and looked over to Sam who looked just as shocked as I was. "Do I even want to know what dazzled means?"

The vampire sighed, seeming to relax a little. "According to Jessica Stanley, one of my many talents also includes 'dazzling' people." He used air quotes and even smirked a little.

I cleared my throat, not expecting that answer. "Okay then…."

"I should probably go. You need your rest." He looked back over to Bella and kissed her cheek. He was concerned for her well being I guess, but I still needed convincing.

"It's only 7:30. Why don't you stay for a bit?" Bella asked with a smile on her face, already reaching to take his coat off. I mean seriously, I know he has to keep up appearances for the whole charade, but does he really need a coat that thick?

"Yeah Edward. It'll give us a chance to get to know you better. Sit down." Sam closed the lid on his laptop and sat up a little straighter in the chair, he always did that when he was talking to a victim's family or the cops to make himself look strong or intimidating. I looked to the vampire who seemed to be calculating his next choice of words while taking the coat from Bella to hang up beside hers.

"Alright." He nodded, smiling a little as Bella came to sit down on the couch beside me. I smirked back as I made no attempts to move, earning a dirty look from Bella and an annoyed sigh from Sam. I acted as if I didn't see them and looked expectantly at the vamp.

Bella cleared her throat to get my attention. "Dean, move so Edward can sit down."

"What?" I asked innocently. "There's a perfectly good chair over there he can sit in." I pointed to the arm chair across from us.

Bella leaned in and glared at me with as much intimidation as a kitten. "Dean. move…. Don't be an ass."

"It's okay Bella. I can sit here." Edward moved to the chair and sat down like he was afraid to mess up the upholstery even though Charlie did a fairly good job of that on his own. I grinned victoriously as I scrunched further down in my place on the couch.

Bella smirked back at me sweetly, replying with an irritated "Fine." Before she got up and sat in Edward's lap, with a satisfied grin. I scowled back at her as she leaned into his arms, wrapping his securely around her waist.

"So, have you guys been in Forks long?" Sam asked before I could say anything. Sam was always good with the small talk. I'm telling you, lock him in a room with three complete strangers and within the hour he would be invited to the second person's kids bar mitzva….

The vamp looked to me before sliding Bella over where she was sitting beside him and took one arm away from her side. "It has been about three years now."

"And no one has noticed that you guys don't age?" I asked. Either small towns were getting dumber or these guys were smarter than they looked.

"We can usually get away with 5 years in one given place before we have to move on." It seemed like he already knew where this conversation was going.

I frowned at his answer. "So, in two years you'll be gone again?" Bella may think she knew all there was to know about this guy, but she didn't think much past the next couple of months, it was a biproduct of the hunter lifestyle. You didn't make many long-term plans. If this guy planned on sticking around that's great, but eventually…. I had to make sure this guy wouldn't just take off with no warning.

He looked back to Bella, keeping his voice and expression blank. I guess that was another hidden talent of vampires. "Discussions will have to be had before we make a definite decision. But we wouldn't just 'take off'." I narrowed my eyes as he used the same phrase I had just been thinking about. "Something will be figured out."

"I know it's something we'll have to talk about. We just haven't got there yet." Bella frowned as the interrogation process began.

"I'm just saying…. I don't want him dropping you." I remembered what Bella said about him being a mind reader and tried to keep that in mind going forward. It was inconvenient though, I glared at him.

"He won't." She got a determined look on her face as she linked her fingers with his.

He seemed unbothered by my attempts to be intimidating. "Bella is right, I will be here for as long as she wants me to be." He smiled back at her.

"So, how old are you really?"

Bella rolled her eyes at me and sighed. "Here we go…."

"What?" I frowned. "It's a legitimate question. You wanted us to get to know him, this is me getting to know him."

"Bella, they have every right to ask me questions." He patted her shoulder before looking back to me. "I was born in 1901, so I am 107." He smiles a little*

Before I could even speak Bella cut me off. "Dean if you make a sugar daddy joke right now, I will call one of your ex-girlfriends, like Cassie, or Lisa."

"Fine…." I crossed my arms.

"So, you guys don't have the secondary set of fangs, do you?" Sam asked as he picked up a notebook to take notes. I smiled at the look in his eyes, he was adding stuff to Dad's journal, he couldn't help it. It was the closest he could get to Dad after he died.

"No, we don't, just the one. I'm sure Carlisle would be a better historian that I am. He has almost 200 more years of experience."

My eyes widened, I know vamps have a long lifespan but that old? "He's over 300 years old?" Edward nodded in response. "I thought I was getting old…."

Bella narrowed her eyes at me. "You're 29…."

I snorted, rolling my eyes. "Practically an old man."

Sam ignored us and looked back to Edward. "Do you think he would meet with me? It'd be good to get some more information."

"I've got some notes you can add to the journal." Bella smiled brightly. "I'm sure they're not as in depth as you want but…." She shrugged. It seemed like the two of them were having another one of those silent conversations again. I rolled my eyes, it got so annoying sometimes. The vamp didn't seem to mind it though, unless he was good at hiding his emotions. Who knows really, I didn't know the guy that well, but I had a feeling we would be having a conversation when Bella left the room. "I'll go get them." She finally sighed and kissed Edward's cheek before she went up the stairs to her room.

The room got quiet, the sound of the clock ticking seeming to become louder as my brother, me and the vampire looked at each other, sizing each other up. The vamp was the first to break the silence.

"So, I guess this is where I hear the overprotective brother speech?" He crossed his leg over the other one and folded his hands into a tent under his chin. I mean seriously, who does that?

I cleared my throat and smiled grimly. "Pretty much."

"Okay, I'm prepared. Go ahead, do your worst." He smiled wryly as he sighed.

"First of all, we are only looking out for Bella. We want what's best for her." Oh Sammy, diplomatic as usual….

"I understand that." He nodded curtly.

"At the same time, you are one of the things we kill so… you better not hurt her." I warned him sternly. "I know how to use a blow torch and I'm not afraid to use it." I brought up images of using said weapon to mind for him to see. It couldn't be as easy as slicing off their heads, Bella told us that this coven was different than the other's we had dealt with. These were more like walking talking corpses with diamond hardened skin. Literally, they sparkled like a disco ball in the sunlight. I imagined seeing him like that and I almost cracked up, then I set him on fire in the vision.

The vamp's eyes widened a little before swiftly recovering his expressionless mask. "Dully noted. I would give my life for her if I could."

"We hope that it doesn't come to that." Sam smirked, a little uneasy. I looked to him and saw the panicked look on his face. Was he thinking about Cold Oak? I couldn't tell.

I nodded before turning back to the vamp. "But if it ever does, just so were clear."

We all looked up to the stairs when we heard a door shut and a couple of seconds later Bella appeared at the top of the stairs with a hand full of papers in her arms. "Good, 'the talk' is over." She smiled as she handed the papers over to Sam. Oh the conversation was far from over, but we wouldn't get all the answers in one night I'm sure. And like Sam said, she was more than capable of handling herself. If she trusted the guy, then I should too, I guess. Sam thanked her for the notes.

"Just wanted to make our position clear." I smiled at her innocently.

"I know." Bella replied with an eye roll and crossed her arms. "Now can Edward and I please sit on the couch?"

I held up my hands in defeat. "Okay, okay." I stood up and Bella took my place on the couch. Edward moving swiftly and quietly to sit beside her. When I sat down on the chair it felt like sitting on an iceberg. Seriously, how did Bella put up with Mr. Freeze over there? Bella cuddled into his side and looked over to me with a triumphant smile on her face. God, she got me again… I'm turning into such a pushover…. I smirked back before shaking my head in disappointment.

"So…." Bella spoke after a few minutes of awkward silence.

"Yup." Sam picked up his laptop again and began typing away again.

I often wondered what he was doing on it. I know what I would be using it for but that was beside the point. I knew he could spend hours on end researching cases or looking up new hunts for us to go on, but he seemed to be spending more time on it than usual lately. I frowned as I saw Bella shooting him dirty looks and I wondered if something happened between the two of them while I was in hell. Sure, I was pissed when I found out that Sam had ignored my last wishes of the two of them staying together after I died. But I guess when you think about it, he did have a valid point. Forks was safe, I looked over to Edward rubbing Bella's arm absent mindedly. Well, Forks was as safe as it could be with a coven of seven mature vamps in it.

"What do you guys do around here for fun?" I spoke up after another awkward silence.

Bella sighed as she looked up at Edward before looking back to me. "Not much, perils of small-town life." She then went back to frowning at Sam.

Okay that didn't work…. I looked over to Sam, who seemed to be ignoring us, or trying to tune out whatever Bella was trying to communicate to him silently. "Found any good hunts Sam?"

Sam frowned without looking up at me, seemingly irritated. "Nothing at all."

"Forks is only plagued with vampires I'm afraid." Edward tried to joke but seeing the look on Bella's face must have shown him it wasn't in good taste. He cleared his throat, looking up at the clock. "I should really get going. It's getting late and you need your rest."

"I guess you're right." Bella replied with a frown. She got up and walked with him to the door and out onto the porch.

I couldn't help it, I had to sneak over to the door and hear their conversation. I'm sure that Edward could hear me listening, but Bella wouldn't know, unless he ratted me out.

"Have you made any progress on tracking that red headed vampire?" Bella tried to keep her voice down.

Right, I remember Sam telling me about the deranged vampire that tried to kill Bella earlier in the year. I was still trying to wrap my head around him using the words 'Bella' and 'vampire boyfriend' in the same sentence that I almost missed the part about her leg being in a cast for three months. When I asked about it, she told me that one of the other coven members had been kidnapped by two vamps when she came to see me in Indiana. She felt so badly about it that she tracked them down to a warehouse where the male almost succeeded in killing her, but she burned down the whole building with him inside it. The female got away.

I heard him sigh before answering her. "No, we haven't."

"As long as she's out there there's a chance she'll come after us." Bella replied in a worried tone. I could her the underlying tones of anger as she also realized that she couldn't go after the thing that kidnapped her friend.

"Nothing will happen to you Bella." Edward tried to reassure her.

"I used to think so, but now I'm not so sure." I winced at the bleakness in her voice. I knew she had already seen a lot of horrible things in her young life and I was to blame for the most recent one. I knew I acted selfishly but I couldn't live with myself if I hadn't tried to save them.

Edward's words brought me out of my reliving the past. "I swear. Bella, I love you and I need you. Your brothers can protect you along with my family and myself. We would do anything to keep you safe."

"But you all can't go crazy because of one homicidal vamp." She groaned as I imagined her pacing the porch. Are you sure you can't track her? Something about her just gives me the creeps."

"I'm trying Bella, she's good at hiding." Edward's tone turned irritated as if he had spent a lot of time tracking this vamp only to come up empty handed.

"Maybe Sam, Dean and I can go out too. I could lure her out-"

"No Bella." Edward cut her off. "I can't let you get hurt again."

I frowned, who in the hell died and made him such a drama queen? I've seen her take down a few Casper's and set a Wendigo's ass on fire. She's been hurt before but always bounces back ready for more. Who did he think he was? I was about to go out there and give him a piece of my mind when Bella intervened.

"I'm not a child Edward!" She retorted in a whispered snarl.

"It's a suicide mission Bella!" His tone matched hers. "That's just what she wants." I assumed he moved because his voice came from further away.

"I know she wants me dead okay?! I'm not stupid." I could hear the exasperation in her voice, clearly this had been something they had already discussed, or fought over. I couldn't catch what he mumbled under his breath but apparently Bella heard him. "Excuse me? You're being such a dick! You don't have control over me! I won't get myself killed. I know what I'm doing!"

"So, I've heard." I heard him mutter. I hesitated, should I intervene or let Bella handle it? It didn't seem like he was being threatening towards her, he was just protecting her, like he did with the whole van incident. I frowned at the memory. I don't think he handled it well but at least she wasn't flattened like a pancake right now. "Please Bella, I am only trying to protect you." His voice turned pleading.

"I'll be fine, trust me. I killed James, didn't I?" I could imagine her trying to make herself look tall and intimidating, just to prove to him she could do it.

Edward's reply was quiet and laced with pain. "You barely made it out alive. I will not let you go through that again. Just let me help you."

"Edward," She sighed dramatically. "I know you mean well, but you're just going to do something too drastic to protect me. Or send Alice to kidnap me mid-hunt. Just stop, I can look after myself." I heard her footsteps coming back towards the door and I moved swiftly to the other side of the door so she wouldn't be able to see me.

I heard Edward chuckle humorlessly. "If you insist."

I could practically feel the heat radiating through the door from the 'wrath of Bella' look I could already picture on her face right now. "You're really starting to piss me off you know that?"

"Good, your kind of cute when you are mad." My eyes widened at the response he gave her. Most of the time when she did that to me or Sam, we would be terrified of her. I even tried to throw her those little chocolate pillow mints from the motel we were staying in because I thought it was one of those 'girl problems' or something. This vampire was either suicidal or somehow, he thought that this would work.

"Ha, ha…." I heard her sarcastic reply as the wood of the door sagged, I guess she had leaned against the door. "So funny…."

"Just promise me you'll be safe." I heard his voice closer to the door this time, I frowned as I figured they were getting ready to do that whole 'kiss goodnight' thing.

"Okay… I promise." She responded quietly.

I darted back across the room, so I didn't have to hear them.

Sam spared me a glance over the computer screen. "You have no shame…."

The next day I woke up with Sam's feet shoved in my face, wondering how that happened. Then I remembered that we were still crashing at Charlie's place. For one, Charlie wouldn't let us go stay at the motel in town, secondly, we were a little low on cash and even though Baby was a good ride, she wasn't much of a good place to sleep.

Speaking of sleeping arrangements, Sam was stretched out across the shabby looking couch and I took the recliner, hence the feet in face scenario. I got up and stretched, looking to see the cruiser was missing from the driveway. I frowned, realizing that normally the littlest sound would startle me awake but apparently, I was more tired than I let on, or Charlie could sneak out like a ninja…. It was probably the first option, I had been on a couple of cases with Charlie and he really wasn't that quiet.

After last night's conversation with Edward I couldn't shake the feeling that he was lying about going home. Whether or not he was 109 years old or not, he still had that look of a mischievous 17-year-old boy. I looked over at Sam, thankful that I never had to deal with him like that, Dad on the other hand dealing with me…. I smirked and headed up to Bella's room just in case I needed to be the vice squad or something.

I tried her door only to find that it was locked. I frowned, "Do you really think that's going to stop me?" I sighed as I pulled out my lock picker and walked into her room a couple of minutes later. She was curled up in the bed, thankfully alone, and seemed to have a panicked look on her face. The whole scene was anything but restful…. I frowned, deciding to mess with her just a little bit. I crept over to her radio, turning back to look at her every time a board creaked. I turned the volume dial up to twenty and pressed play, filling the room with whatever music she was listening to last.

Some random Billy Joel song started playing and she bolted upright out of bed, her hand flying to her chest. Her eyes finally found me, and she glared.

"Mornin'." I smirked as I turned the music back down.

"What in the hell is wrong with you?!" She shouted angrily. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"No, just keeping you on your toes." I walked over to her bed and flopped down.

She frowned, shoving me with all her might. "I was sleeping…."

"Now you're not. Come on you can sleep when I'm dead." I joked casually.

She glared at me. "Poor choice of words."

"Nightmare?" I changed the subject, seeing the look on her face that I remembered from our days together out on the road.

"Yeah…." She sighed as she got out of bed. "I just keep seeing you die over and over…. They're all so real… it's like the only thing that sticks out in my memory." She let out a shaky breath.

"I never meant to hurt you Iz." That was the worst part of this whole deal. I knew the risks, and I thought I would be okay with the consequences, but seeing my little sister having terrible nightmares, and knowing that I was at least a part of the cause of them…. It was almost more than I could bear.

"But you did…." She replied, looking up at me with a hurt look in her eyes.

"Come on…. I'm here now." I took her hand. "Don't be mad okay?

"I'm not mad," She replied quickly. "I'm upset…. You acted selfishly…."

"I couldn't let you and Sam die…."

"So, you sacrificed yourself for us? Did you realize how stupid that was?"

"Yeah, I did." I looked at her, trying to push the image out of my head. I could almost see her being cradled in my arms, skin a deathly pale color and her lips turning blue. Her shirt from her waist down completely covered in blood from the knife wound, I repressed a shudder. Now seeing her alive and healthy? "It was totally worth it." I smiled.

"No." Those stubborn little frown lines formed in between her eyebrows as she held onto her point. "It wasn't, you were more important Dean."

I sighed angrily. "Look, I'm here now…. Let's not mope about what happened okay?" I scratched the side of my head as she turned away from me. "C'mere…." She hesitated, I could see her pouting in the mirror's reflection. "Come on…. Don't make me use the _blue steel_ …."

She turned to face me finally, a sad look in her eyes but at least she was smiling. "You're a jerk…." She replied while wrapping her arms around me.

"Shut up and let me be mushy…." I defended my actions with a hug, normally not one to show a softer side but the kid brought it out in me.

"Let me get the camera." Bella joked with a small laugh.

"Bella, come on." I threw in a little bit of a whine for her benefit.

"Alright… sorry. I missed you." She pulled me closer and laid her head on my chest, much like she used to do after a bad nightmare. "I never thought I would hear that again…."

"You've missed me that much?" I realized then that she was listening to my heartbeat. I couldn't keep the smile off my face as I remembered this being her own little way of coping with the realities of this job.

"Yeah…. Sorry if that's a little mushy."

I shrugged off her apology. "Well… you _are_ a woman."

She pushed me away as I started laughing and rolled her eyes. "Way to ruin the moment Dean…."

"It's just in my nature."

She pulled me back into a hug and we stood like that for a couple of minutes in silence. I hated to admit it, but my legs were starting to feel like Jello after the first five minutes, but I didn't want to move. I had missed these little minutes with my sister. When I first came back, Bobby and Sam were emotional, but they didn't show their affection the same way Bella and I did. When we got here a couple of weeks ago I didn't know how Bella was going to react. Clearly, we taught her well to always question everything and it took a lot of convincing to get her to believe that it was me. Of course, she was emotional when she finally realized it was me and we hugged then. But ever since I have been afraid that it might be too much for her to handle, so I've been trying to keep my distance to avoid hurting her.

"I like this…." She spoke up in a quiet voice, I figured she was listening again.

"Yeah? I feel like we're closer to mom this way." My tone matched hers as I looked over to our small family photo on her desk. Seeing how happy Mom, Dad, and me were.

"I missed you…." I heard her sniffling.

I held her closer and kissed the top of her head in a brotherly way. "It's okay I'm here now." I felt like I had repeated that same sentence over and over today, but I felt like she needed that reassurance now more than ever. "See kid, I'm alive."

"Yeah." She looked back up at me and smiled a little. "I love you. Don't be stupid again okay?"

"I won't kiddo, don't worry."

"I wanna go do something fun." She suddenly switched gears on me and went over to grab a hair brush and started combing out the tangles in her hair.

"Like what? Got a stethoscope lyin' around so you can play doctor?" I smirked at her, teasing. Back when she first started coming on the road with us she would watch in fascination as Dad patched me up if I got hurt on a hunt and she just kept asking question after question after question. So, one day I finally taught her the basics of wound care and let her practice with a fake wound. I had never seen her so happy.

"Shut up…." She grinned with a slight blush spreading across her cheeks. I started laughing. "There are some really crappy romantic comedies that have come out in the last year…." She hinted and looked at me with a loaded look.

I threw in a fake grimace for her. "Don't torture me. Edward on the other hand…." I rolled my eyes and looked out her window. There was a convenient tree placed exactly right in front of her window. It would be easy for someone to climb it and be right at her window….

"Hey. He likes watching movies with me." She pouted, bringing me back to the conversation we were having.

"Yeah, chick flicks." I frowned.

"You used to like making fun of the rom-coms…. Come with me?" I grimaced as she hit me with the one thing that she could do that would make me crumble under pressure. Give me a monster to fight and I'll keep going until they killed me. But the sight of my sister staring at me with huge puppy dog eyes and asking me to do something with her? Totally powerless. "Please?"

"Fine." I sighed dramatically and smiled at her. "Get your coat."

"Thanks, Deanie beanie!"

"Bella." I whined, turning my back as she started getting dressed. "Not that old nickname again…." Some kid with a beanie baby collection called me that _one time_ … now it's stuck….

She started giggling and came to stand in front of me, fully dressed and pulling on her old denim jacket that I had bought for her ages ago. "You love me!"

"Whatever."

It had been a long standing Winchester sibling tradition that if we were stuck in a town for more than a week while Dad was on a job that Sam, Bella and I would go to the local video rental store and pick out the cheesiest movies in the store to bring back to the motel and binge watch, Bella and I would make fun of the crappy acting or the really inaccurate portrayal of monsters in the old movies from the 50s.

"I'm sorry Sammy couldn't come." I frowned as we pulled into the parking lot. "I wonder where he went." When we had come downstairs he wasn't on the couch. Within the past two weeks he had been getting up super early and disappearing for a couple of hours. Bella let him borrow her car and when we asked where he was going he would say that he was going out to run for a little bit, or that he wanted to do a food run. It didn't bother me because I was used to that sort of behavior coming from my little brother. But when I looked over at Bella she seemed to be lost in thought and her forehead was pinched up in worry. I didn't ask her what was wrong, sometimes she got like this and it was better to let her work out her problems on her own. To avoid running into someone from her days at Forks high she had changed her appearance to be a short middle-aged woman with a sandy blonde pixie cut. I smiled as I realized she was trying to copy my style.

"See anything you like?" She finally spoke when we were looking over several aisles of DVD racks.

My eye caught on a dark red cover and pulled it out. "Hey, hey… slasher flick alright." I grinned at Bella with my pick and added it to the growing pile in our basket.

"Whatever…." She snorted and kept looking.

"Come on, we've seen scarier crap then this…." I retorted as I spotted the girl behind the counter eyeing me. She giggled and turned away when our eyes met. I smirked, ready to embarrass the crap out of Bella.

Bella was unfazed by me and she dumped another movie into the basket. "Oh well. Don't care."

I picked up the DVD and recognized the cover art. "Really Bella? 'Learn to Love Again'?" I gagged.

She turned to me and smirked. "Just to torture you. I hear the hot chick that you love is in it."

I rolled my eyes, remembering that The Brunette Beauty was in it. I actually did like this movie, but I wouldn't give Bella the satisfaction. "They're not all the same you know."

"Yeah, yeah." She smirked and pushed my arm.

We soon had ten DVDs in our basket and walked up to the front to pay for them, the girl at the counter flirted with me (I never could resist the cute brunettes) and I naturally flirted back. Bella looked mortified, all apart of my plan, and grabbed the bag of movies.

"This'll be fun." She smiled when I got back in Baby.

"Yeah, just like the good old days."

We were almost back to Charlie's and I hesitated before I asked my next question. "Are you sure everything is good between you and Sammy?" Most of the time they acted like twins; finishing each other's sentences and communicating telepathically like they always have been. But ever since I got back, things seem different between them. I would catch them being locked in a death stare with one another and probably communicating with just their thoughts to hide something from me. I asked Sam about it, but he said that nothing was wrong and no matter how much I pestered him his answer would always be the same, 'Were good Dean, don't worry about it.' But Bella on the other hand, I could read her like a book.

"Everything is fine." She gave me a curt response, looking away.

I frowned, tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention again. "I know something's wrong, so you might as well tell me." I frowned, cursing myself for sounding just like Dad when Sammy and I got into trouble. "Spill, now."

She sighed in a frustrated tone and looked back to me. "Just drop it Dean."

"No." We were a couple blocks away now so I pulled over to the side of the road and put Baby in park. Just in case she did the same thing she did when she was 17 and got out and walked back to the motel after I scared off some wannabe poser who was flirting with her.

"I'm not going to move this car until you tell me. You've both been acting cagey ever since Sam and I got here. What's going on?"

She looked out the window again, I'm assume thinking about ditching the car again. She sighed before speaking. "Sam and I went through a lot when you… when you were gone. I had Edward and Charlie at the time but Sam…." She shrugged.

"I know but that doesn't give him a pass to act like an ass." I frowned at her answer, it didn't really answer my question. "Why is he acting so shady?" There had to be something that I was missing. Sam had always been quiet and never really shared much but this seemed different. Something Dad told me kept nagging me in the back of my head and I forced it back down.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" She grumbled at me, clearly as pissed as I was.

"I've tried. Believe me." I all but threatened to push him out of the moving car into oncoming traffic to get him to spill but he wouldn't budge. "He's like a completely different person. Just tell me what happened Bella."

Something must have snapped in her because she looked me directly in the eye and spoke without hesitation. "Do you remember Ruby?"

"The demon bitch? Yeah." Wasn't expecting to hear her name anytime soon. I tried to remember what she looked like and her demonic face flashed through my mind, I repressed a shiver.

"She's back from hell and Sam has been spending time with her."

I felt like my jaw hit the floor board of the car, my eyes widened at the thought of that little harpy back messing with Sam's head. "What? She's back already?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure when she came back." Bella's green eyes were a mixture of pain and anger as she spoke.

"Why is he hanging around with her?!" I growled as I started the car back up. Whatever emotion was beyond furious, I had blown past it a couple of minutes ago.

"I don't know Dean. I can't talk to him." She frowned, growling in annoyance. "You know how he is."

"I can't believe he's hanging around with that bitch again…." I forced the scene from my hospital room out of my head the night Dad sold his soul for mine. I didn't want to think about it anymore. I had to find him. I couldn't make that choice yet. "That's probably where he is now. Have you tried calling him?" I tried to keep my focus on the road. I could feel the anger building up inside me and I tried keeping it in check.

"Yeah. He stopped answering me." Bella pulled out her phone again and checked the display.

"Damn it…." I growled. I thought we were past this… I thought I had taken care of everything, but I guess I was wrong. Dad shouldn't have put this responsibility on me. I couldn't protect them anymore than he could. I tried keeping them together, it was my dying wish that they stay together. Why in the hell was Sam so damn stubborn?

"Let's not get too excited. Just wait till he gets home, maybe we can confront him then?"

"Oh, I'll confront him about it." I stared straight ahead but I couldn't see anything but red. Dad's nagging playing on repeat in my head.

I felt Bella's hand on my arm, and I resisted the urge to shrug her off. "Dean, please calm down."

"Excuse me but I think I have every right to be pissed that my _brother_ is running around with the demon that let in _Lilith_ to kill me." I growled, I tried not to be angry with her. But why would she keep this from me?

"I know Dean." She looked down and I could barely hear her reply. "It wouldn't have been a problem if we hadn't died in the first place."

I winced, knowing none of this was her fault. But it shouldn't surprise me that she would take it that way. "This has nothing to do with that."

"Yes, it does Dean." She stubbornly held on to her point. "Please don't get upset."

"It's kinda hard not to Iz." I scowled.

"I shouldn't have told you." She crossed her arms, it seemed like she was trying to sink into the chair and become apart of the leather.

I sighed, trying to keep my voice calm and even. "I needed to know. You can't hide stuff like that from me. What in the hell is he thinking?!" I dug around in my pocket until I found my phone. I went back to watching the road and I tried calling Sam. The thing didn't even ring as it went directly to voicemail. "Damnit!" I growled as I angrily pressed the redial button. I could see Charlie's house from here, I was tempted to get him to put out an APB for Sam and getting the police involved. If I had to drag him back here by force I would do it. "How are you condoning this Bella?"

"I'm not! I just have a lot on my mind. I'm as pissed about this as you are."

"Yeah, like that red headed vamp that your little boy toy couldn't track…." Looking back on it, I probably shouldn't have said that. But I didn't think very clearly when I was angry.

I was startled when I felt her hand slapping my arm. I turned to look on her and her emerald eyes hardened as she glared at me. "Hey, I know you're mad at Sam and me but leave Edward out of it."

I didn't say anything else to her, trying to keep my cool as the sting from her slap slowly retreated from my arm. I pulled into the driveway beside Charlie's cruiser a second later.

"Hey guys." Charlie seemed unaware of our bad moods as he smiled as he got out of the cruiser. "I should write you a ticket for speeding Dean." He laughed, joking.

"Hey Charlie. Have you seen Sam?" I looked around for evidence of Bella's car around.

Charlie seemed to pick up on our mood as he leaned back on his cruiser, frowning. "No, why?"

"Cause I'm gonna kick his ass." I fumed as I got back in the car, ready to go hunt him down.

Bella had already gotten out of the car and had leaned back into the car as I fired up the engine again. "Dean stop!"

"What's going on?" Charlie put his hand on Bella's shoulder.

"Maybe I can summon her…." I found a spell in Dad's journal once about summoning demons for interrogation, but he had never tried it.

"What in the hell are you talking about?" Charlie frowned, acting like I had completely lost my mind.

"Sam is with a demon." Bella frowned as she looked back to Charlie.

"Not just any demon. Ruby…." I put the car in reverse, still not ruling out pulling the cops into this. God knows what he's doing with her and what Dad's warning could have meant.

"Should I go out and look for him?" Charlie offered, already getting back into the cruiser.

"I was just about to suggest that." I nodded in thanks and watched him pull out of the driveway. "She's gonna screw him over. I know it."

"We don't know that Dean. Please come inside!" Bella tried to keep her voice down, looking over to the neighbor's house. Did she think I was causing a scene? Wait until I get Sam back here….

"Whose side are you on Bell? She's a demon." I leaned over to the passenger side so I wouldn't have to whisper like an idiot.

"I know Dean! I don't know what he's planning." Bella answered back with a frustrated tone.

"He's planning on doing something stupid." I let the memory come back to me again.

 _Remembering waking up from my coma in a hospital room choking on the stupid tube they had stuck down my throat. After Sam called the doctor in there and told them that I was basically a miracle he and Bella told me a reaper was after me. Strangest thing though, I had no memory of anything happening to me. Sam and Bella were confused as well, I couldn't help but have a gut feeling that something was wrong._

 _We looked up to see Dad standing in the doorway, he looked in pretty rough shape but otherwise okay. He looked relieved when he saw me awake._

" _How are you feeling, dude?" He smiled, seemingly at ease._

" _Fine, I guess. I'm alive." I wondered briefly if this was some sort of trick by Yellow Eyes that he was still possessing him._

" _That's what matters."_

" _Where were you last night?" Sam demanded angrily. Great, I was only awake for three minutes and we were going to have a screaming match in my room…. I looked over to Bella and saw that she was upset too. Although it could have been over me, I wasn't sure._

" _I had some things to take care of." Dad dodged the question deftly as he sat beside me. Sam tried to get the truth out of Dad, but he didn't budge. Bella finally convinced Sam to walk it off and go grab some coffee._

 _I looked to Dad, seeing that behind the relief at seeing me that there was something just under the surface that made me feel like my head had just been dunked into a cold bucket of ice water. The pit in my stomach twisted a little harder. "What is it Dad?"_

" _You know, when you were a kid, I'd come home from a hunt, and after what I'd seen, I'd be… I'd be wrecked. And you…." He looked back to me with a sad smile. "You'd come up to me and you, you'd put your hand on my shoulder and you'd look me in the eye and you'd…." I had never seen Dad struggle for words like he did then. It kinda freaked me out to be honest, I stared at him wide eyed. "You'd say 'its okay Dad.'" He paused for a minute then he apologized to me. I questioned his sanity at the time, wondering what had happened while I was out. "I need you to watch out for Sammy and Bella, to take care of them." Dad's face turned grim as he addressed me in that Sargent Winchester voice._

" _Yeah, Dad…." I frowned, confused by his weird mood switch. "you know I will. You're scaring me."_

" _Don't be scared, Dean." His tone turned urgent as he got up and grabbed my shoulder forcefully. "You have to save them."_

" _Dad? What are you talking about?" I could hear my pulse reacting to his urgent tone as the monitor beeped loudly._

" _Nothing else matters now Dean, you have to save them. If you can't then…." He leaned in and whispered into my ear. "If you can't save them then you'll have to kill them."_

 _My eyes widened in shock. What in the hell was that supposed to mean?! I couldn't kill them! I looked back up to him and saw his saddened expression. "Please don't tell them about this. I know it's a lot to put on your shoulders son but please."_

The next thing I knew he was lying dead in a room not too far down the hall from mine. I heard the commotion and didn't think anything of it until I heard Bella screaming. I didn't know what to think of the strange conversation at the time. I figured Dad was just being paranoid or that it was some messed up nightmare that Bella and Sam had. It became clearer as we found more psychic kids like Sam and Bella. More things kinda fell into place as we got closer to what happened in Cold Oak. After I made my deal and knew that my time was up, I hadn't thought anything else about it. That is until just now when Bella told me Sam was with her. I couldn't help but think the events were connected, but I wouldn't know for sure until I could ask Sam myself.

I frowned, putting the car in park again. "I need to talk to him, now." I dialed his number again, praying to anything that was listening that he answered.

"Hey Dean, what's wrong?" His reply was casual, like he was just stopping off to get a couple of burgers.

"Where in the hell are you?" I growled into the receiver, anger combining with fear.

"I'm on my way home now." Sam seemed confused by my reaction. But he had to know something was up right? I mean, Bella called him a bunch of times and left messages.

"Good. I need to talk to you." I hung up and got out of the car. I stormed my way up the porch and tried opening the door, remembering I didn't have a key and of course it would be locked. I sighed angrily and looked back to Bella.

"Subtle Dean…" She commented, raising one eyebrow.

"Whatever." I frowned as she opened the door with her key.


End file.
